Cleaner, photo Free Photos/CC

Cleaner, photo Free Photos/CC   (Click to enlarge: opens in new window)

The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) and private cleaning company OCS have been accused of ignoring demands to investigate a coronavirus outbreak among workers after four cleaners fell sick with suspected Covid-19. One cleaner died just hours following a shift after being forced to work while sick, and another was sacked while self-isolating.

The worker who died, Emanuel Gomes, was a member of the United Voices of the World union, which says that he was so feverish and unwell the day he died that “he didn’t know where he was. But he knew that if he didn’t work he would get to the end of the month and wouldn’t have enough money.”