THE online retailer Amazon has rolled out a programme to test workers at its Durham and Darlington warehouses for Covid-19.

Amazon, which has two warehouses in the region, has set up its own internal testing facilities as part of the pilot programme at both Fulfilment Centres in the North-East.

Antoin Dreyfus, leading the initative in the UK, said he believed the testing programme will "help save lives."

It comes as The Northern Echo went behind the scenes of Amazon Darlington in an exclusive first look at the site and the safety measures in place.

EXCLUSIVE: Behind-the-scenes at Amazon's warehouse in Darlington

Mr Dreyfus said: “Providing regular testing for our employees will allow us to identify asymptomatic cases who might not otherwise be tested.

The Northern Echo:

Test results take around 72 hours to come back Picture: SARAH CALDECOTT

“We’re able to catch the virus earlier and place those individuals in quarantine, with full pay, so they can recover before infecting others.

“We believe this programme will help save lives.”

Jeff Wilke, Amazon’s chief executive Worldwide Consumer, said: “If we can build lab capacity and testing capacity that adds to the capacity that’s available in the world, then we have made the world a safer place.”

The Northern Echo:

Prashant Pandey Picture: SARAH CALDECOTT

During The Echo's visit to Amazon Darlington, General Manager Prashant Pandey said that Amazon had introduced a number of safety measures at its sites.

He said: “We realise how much responsibility we have to keep our people safe.

“We have areas for dispensing sanitisers and masks, there is an area for temperature check – we have introduced continuous cleaning, with fumigation taking place every night for almost two hours.

EXCLUSIVE: Behind-the-scenes at Amazon's warehouse in Darlington

“The most important thing for us is safety, we have around 150 different initiatives to keep people safe during these times," he added.