SEAT to Test Workers for COVID-19 While Resuming Production

Spanish automaker SEAT plans to resume limited production Monday while testing its more than 15,000 employees for the COVID-19 virus.

The workers will undergo Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) testing at on-site medical facilities before returning to their workplaces. The automaker says it will perform more than 3,000 tests per week across its production plants in Martorell and Barcelona, SEAT components and the CROS spare-parts center. Non-production employees also will be screened.

SEAT says it is the first company in Spain to conduct PCR testing, which will be extended to other Volkswagen Group companies in coming weeks. The on-site laboratories have been accredited by the Ministry of Health.

Production will resume initially on one shift Monday at Martorell, and the automaker expects to produce about 325 cars a day during the first two weeks. A second shift to be added May 11 will allow production of about 650 cars a day. SEAT expects to return to full production by June.

Production lines are being altered to conform to social distancing rules, while all employees will be given surgical masks and hand sanitizer at their workspace. Employees who may be particularly at risk are advised not to go to work in the early stages of reopening.

An unspecified number of workers will remain laid off until full production resumes.

Spain has reported more than 22,000 deaths related to COVID-19 and the outbreak there is the most widespread in the world after the U.S., according to a Bloomberg report. But the incidence of new cases and deaths has largely stabilized, the report says.

“Now that the most difficult phase of COVID-19 has been overcome, we face the first stage of returning to normal without letting our guard down,” Carsten Isensee, SEAT president and vice president for finance and IT, says in a news release. “It is essential to apply strict health and safety measures to ensure that the return to work takes place in complete safety.

“With SEAT’s decision to invest in the PCR test program, we are also helping the health authorities to understand the extent of the pandemic.”

While vehicle production was halted the automaker manufactured more than 600 ventilators for use by COVID-19 patients. SEAT also produced thousands of surgical masks made from filters used in the Martorell plant’s paint shop booths for distribution to hospitals, security forces and other organizations.