Aunt Bessie's Yorkshire factory mourns death of long-serving worker 'with Covid symptoms'

The woman, who had worked at the factory, which produces frozen Yorkshire puddings, ready meals and desserts, for 21 years, had been admitted to Hull Royal Infirmary, with symptoms of Covid-19, exacerbated by other medical issues.

The exact cause of death has not been confirmed.

It comes a fortnight after the factory said a "small number" of their 400 employees tested positive for Covid-19, with one person understood to be ill in hospital, while a second was recovering at home. However this was an "entirely separate" case.

In a statement Aunt Bessie's said: "We are all saddened about the death of our colleague, and our thoughts and condolences are with her family and friends at this time.

"She was an important member of our team for 21 years and we will do everything we can to support her family."

As a mark of respect, after news of her death was received by her workplace on Thursday, her shift did not run so friends and colleagues had time to remember her.

The company said they had "followed and gone beyond the guidance of national health authorities" with measures including extra sanitation, floorspace segregation and the use of thermal infrared cameras to detect signs of high temperature.

The statement added: "If a factory worker contracts the virus, we would clean the area where the person was working, confirm that social distancing has been applied and apply our own track and trace procedure to identify co-workers who also need to go into isolation.

"Any employees who isolate due to having symptoms, or having contracted the virus, will continue receiving full pay.

"We continue to follow the guidance of national health authorities very strictly.

"Currently, our Aunt Bessie’s factory has a small number of coronavirus cases, but Public Health England has repeatedly complimented us on our social distancing measures and our proactive approach to ensuring that our colleagues are safe and well."