A VW worker holds a swab control kit in a COVID-19 control at the car manufacturer’s Wolfsburg plant.
The Volkswagen Group is installing services for voluntary testing of COVID-19 at sites across Germany, intensifying its efforts in its main business operations as infection rates in Europe increase.
The car manufacturer will be able to perform up to 2,400 tests a day in Wolfsburg, the headquarters of its main workplace and its largest factory. The effects will occur within 24 hours, VW chief of staff Gunnar Kilian told reporters on Tuesday.
“The check on offer is helping to quickly break the infection chains,” Kilian said. “A running environment for our colleagues remains the most sensible priority.”
VW officials see that the ability to test is helping the company navigate next flu season, when workers with symptoms will need to know if they have COVID-19 or a common flu.
The United Auto Workers union has promised to pressure U.S. automakers to increase their check offerings after they mentioned the challenge months ago as an explanation of why they worry about plants reopening.
VW resumed production at the Wolfsburg plant four months ago after a six-week closure. The plant employs approximately 50,000 other people and produced more than 700,000 Golf, Tiguan, Touran and Seat Tarraco models last year.
VW is installing its own check services on what it calls “pass boxes” that have been ready for voluntary employee checks. The company will install a total of 10 boxes at sites across Germany.
Disturbing trend
After the initial good fortune of combating the virus, infections in Germany are close to a four-month peak, reflecting a trend across Europe. The country has recently classified popular holiday destinations, adding the Spanish Balearic Islands, the French Riviera and Paris as high-risk areas.
On Monday, federal and regional fitness officials said they planned to eliminate the requirement that other people returning to the country from high-risk spaces be tested for coronavirus, raising a lack of laboratory capacity.
What is at stake is paramount for VW and its peers to avoid additional stops. Inactive factories contributed to the company’s loss of 2.4 billion euros ($2.8 billion) in the current quarter, and joined rivals such as Renault and BMW to spend money during the period.
The VW Group employs approximately 470,000 other people in 20 European countries, representing the majority of its global of approximately 665,000 others. The company said it expects new car registrations in Europe to fall by 25% this year.
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