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Just when we thought the issue of COVID-19 was starting to be under control with reducing numbers in China, the virus has come right back into the headlines with concerns about the spread of the infection gathering pace. You will have read about the challenges being faced in Northern Italy over the last few days which has resulted in the temporary closure of our Milan office.
This update brings our focus on to the actions everyone can take to protect themselves against the virus and your support in following these simple rules is expected. Our intention is not to alarm anyone as most cases turn out to be mild, but we want to ensure that the excellent clear health record for our people in China, is mirrored elsewhere in the Colart Group. We, therefore, want to stress the message that prevention is better than cure and we want everyone in Colart and their families to STAY SAFE.
Simple Rules for the Safety and Health of our people
What are the symptoms?
Typical symptoms include fever and a cough that may progress to severe pneumonia causing shortness of breath and breathing difficulties.
How is the virus transferred?
- Direct contact to face – eyes or nose.
- Contamination via droplets from sneezing and coughing landing on surfaces and then transferring via hands on to eyes and nose.
- Contamination to hands from sneezing or coughing and then transfer to others (e.g. handshakes) or on to hand contact surfaces to be picked up by others by their hands and transferred to their eyes or nose.
What are the basic rules to stop transfer?
- Wash hands frequently with soap and warm water or sanitise them with an alcohol-based hand rub.
- Wash hands after returning from public places, particularly where you have used public transport.
- Ensure you clean your work surfaces regularly and thoroughly.
- Cover your nose and mouth with tissue paper when sneezing or coughing and have the tissue paper discarded into lidded bins afterwards.
- Do not share personal items especially in the dining rooms.
- Cover wounds or cuts with waterproof dressings.
More details can be found by visiting this site.
What should I do now?
- Keep in mind that currently, the case number outside of China is relatively low.
- Contact HR immediately if any have travelled to the major affected countries such as Northern Italy, Iran or South East Asia (including Korea, Singapore and Thailand)
- If you have been to the affected countries and have returned to the UK within the last 14 days, you may be asked to work from home (self-quarantine) until we are sure that you do not have any symptoms
- Be vigilant of symptoms at all times and to take precautions as detailed above with a focus on good personal hygiene techniques.
- If you start to experience any symptoms whilst at work, do not panic but call HR immediately and appropriate measures will be taken.
What about Company travel?
We have increased the travel controls as follows:
- There should be no travel to Northern Italy, China or any other country in Asia.
- Travel within a country should be by agreement with your LL3 Business Unit lead
- All air travel outside of your country should be by agreement with your GLT member.
- Remember, if you or a member of your family have visited Northern Italy or China within the last 14 days, please contact HR to agree a return to work date which should be no less than 14 days from the date of return.
The sourcing of face masks continues to be an issue worldwide. As you know the US stepped in to support China with the provision of face masks (which are like gold dust in China) and I am happy to confirm that these masks arrived at the Tianjin site yesterday. As our Milan office is also experiencing issues to sourcing masks, we have asked the US to step in again to secure a quantity for provision to the group as required.
The value of Colart’s international spread can really be seen in this situation as well as the collaboration and care that is evident across the Colart family.
Impact on our sites
As our operations in China start to find some normality with the Shanghai office operating as normal (of course subject to local protection rules and procedures) our Tianjin operation is starting to gather pace. We are really proud of the actions taken by the CTAM team as it is clear that we are one of the first non-priority businesses in Tianjin to not only open but stay open due to the strict adherence to the local government protection rules. What is good to see is that even as Tianjin and Shanghai start to get back to normal city life there has been no impact so far on the case numbers seen in each city.
With the challenges in Northern Italy and Japan we have implemented a “work from home” operation in our Milan and Tokyo offices. With the challenges in Northern Italy and Japan, we have implemented a “work from home” operation in our Milan and Tokyo offices. Clearly this will have an impact on commercial activities, and it is really pleasing to see Jim Yang, Commercial Director, China sharing his learnings and commercial actions with Massimiliano Gallo Commercial Director, Italia and Toru Nominyama Commercial Director, Japan.
As a business, we are of course working through the supply chain challenges resulting from this virus to ensure service is maintained as far as possible to our customers and consumers.
In terms of protection at all of our sites, we have agreed a number of precautionary actions to be taken such as availability of hand sanitisers, temperature gauges and hand towels instead of hand driers. More details will be communicated locally.
Update on numbers
China’s National Health Commission (NHC) reported 406 new cases of COVID-19 as of midnight February 26, a decrease from 508 cases the previous day, bringing the total number of confirmed infections in mainland China to 78,064. The NHC reported a further 52 coronavirus-related deaths, down from 71 a day prior, increasing the death toll to 2,751. So far, a total of 29,745 cases have been reported as cured and discharged from hospitals. 24 of China’s 31 provinces reported no new cases in the past 24 hours, while the visiting World Health Organization (WHO) team noted that a turning point had been reached in Wuhan, the epicenter of the outbreak.
WHO reported 390 new cases of COVID-19, reaching a total of 2,459 confirmed cases in 33 countries outside mainland China. New cases have been reported in Algeria, Switzerland, Australia and Croatia, while the numbers continue to grow in Bahrain, Oman, Kuwait, Spain, Italy, South Korea, Thailand, Iraq and Iran. The WHO said the outbreak has not reached the level of a pandemic but warned countries to step up preparations to deal with such a scenario, as concerns rise about growing cases in the Middle East and Europe
Some interesting facts
- In the wake of the virus outbreak and the concerns about how the virus started, on February 24, the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress banned all trade on wild animals according to Chinese State media.
- Unfortunately, it has been announced that the Olympics to be held in Japan later this year may be a victim of the outbreak. Committee officials for the Olympics are monitoring the situation over the next couple of months and will make a decision shortly.
- The northwestern Chinese regions of Inner Mongolia and Xinjiang and the southwestern province of Sichuan have downgraded their emergency response level after assessing that health risks from the coronavirus outbreak have receded.
- The Hong Kong government has announced 120 billion Hong Kong dollars ($15.4 billion) worth of measures to support its economy, which has been dragged down by pro-democracy protests and the virus outbreak.
Stories from China
As we continue to share articles from our people in China please click here to two articles from Emerald Huang (Buyer) and Jie Zang (Commercial)
Any questions?
Should you have any questions or thoughts about the current situation please send an email to people@colart.com and we will come back to you as soon as possible