Victorian diseases Amazon: Online retail giant confirms outbreak of deadly disease at Coventry factory - prompting calls for immediate closure
Amazon has confirmed the outbreak of a deadly Victorian disease at a huge UK warehouse.
Employees have threatened to walk out as multiple cases of the illness were confirmed at the online retailer’s site in Coventry. A number of tuberculosis (TB) cases have been reported at the Coventry warehouse, with NHS staff attending the site to perform blood tests.
Some 2,000 employees work at the site, including around 700 GMB members. Amazon confirmed that 10 people tested positive for non-contagious TB in September, 2025.
A spokesman for Amazon said no additional cases had since been identified and the site has continued to run as normal, with a “screening programme” being carried out amid “an abundance of caution”. “In line with best practice safety procedures, we immediately followed guidance from the NHS and UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) and made all potentially affected employees aware of the situation,” the statement read.
It continued: “We will continue to follow guidance from the experts in the NHS, and would respectfully remind public organisations of the need for responsible communications where matters of public wellbeing are concerned.” Dr Roger Gajraj, who with UKHSA West Midlands, said: “The small number of individuals affected by tuberculosis are responding well to treatment and are no longer infectious, so pose no onward risk.”
However, the GMB union has called for all staff to be sent home and medically suspended on full pay “until appropriate infection control measures are implemented to prevent the further spread of TB”. GMB Senior Organiser Amanda Gearing called for “immediate and decisive action”, saying: “Amazon is putting all workers, site visitors, and the local and wider communities at risk of exposure to a serious infectious disease.
“Coventry Amazon risks becoming the engine room of a mass TB outbreak on a scale not seen for decades.” Your Party MP for Coventry South, Zarah Sultana, said Amazon not closing the site is “outrageous”, adding the company is treating “its employees as if they’re disposable”.
TB is a bacterial infection that usually affects the lungs. It is preventable and curable, but can cause irreversible damage to the lungs if left untreated. Symptoms usually come on gradually and include:
- a cough that lasts more than three weeks, which may produce mucus or blood
- feeling tired or exhausted
- a high temperature or night sweats
- loss of appetite
- weight loss
- feeling generally unwell