Rome, April 26 (beraking latest news Health) – As part of the checks carried out to protect collective health in the period of health emergency, the Carabinieri Command for the protection of health, in agreement with the Ministry of Health, conducted a campaign of checks at national level at supermarkets, in order to ascertain the correct execution of the sanitation operations of the environments and equipment to limit the contagion from Covid-19. A total of 981 commercial establishments identified among those with the greatest influx were inspected, detecting irregularities in 173 of them, equal to 18%, referring 9 supermarkets to the judicial authority and sanctioning a further 177 with administrative violations for an amount of 202 thousand euros.
226 irregularities were contested, 39 of which attributable to hygienic deficiencies due to failure to carry out cleaning and sanitizing operations of the premises and equipment for common use, the failure to provide information to users on the rules of conduct and on compliance with the maximum number of contemporary presences within the premises and interpersonal distance during purchases and at the checkout. Furthermore, the malfunctioning or absence of the dispensers for hand disinfection and the lack of respect for interpersonal distances were ascertained. In order to identify the effectiveness of the periodic cleaning and sanitizing operations, swabs were carried out for the research of Covid-19 on the surfaces considered to be of greatest contact, creating 1,060 samples with the support of sampling technicians and the laboratories of Asl, Arpa, Zooprophylactic institutes and university bodies. The analytical results revealed the positivity to the presence of genetic material of the virus in 18 cases, attributable to trolleys and baskets used by users, keyboards for ATM and credit cards (Pos) payment, scales keys and ‘time-saving’ devices used by users for automatic reading of purchased products. The supermarkets in which positive Covid-19 was highlighted, belonging to various large-scale distribution companies, were identified in the cities of Rome, Latina, Frosinone, Grosseto, Terni, Salerno and Catania, as well as in other establishments in the provinces of Parma. , Perugia and Cagliari.
As part of the inspection plan, the Nas also identified serious hygienic, managerial and structural deficiencies that led to the execution of measures for the immediate suspension of commercial activity for 12 supermarkets, of which three for violations of anti-Covid measures , and the seizure of over 2 thousand kg of food products found unsuitable for consumption, due to lack of traceability and unsuitable storage methods.
In Parma, at the end of the health and hygiene inspections carried out in some supermarkets, supplemented by the collection of environmental swabs on shopping baskets, displays for electronic payments of the self-service checkouts and the fruit and vegetable department scale, there were 5 positive swabs in the presence of the virus. The owners of the shops were sanctioned for the violation of the self-control procedures in relation to the sanitation protocols for a total amount of € 6 thousand. In Perugia, in two separate supermarkets, located in Gubbio (Perugia) and Terni, three positive surface swabs were found respectively taken from the scale of the counter of the gastronomy department and, in the second case, on the Pos for electronic payment cards and on the trolley handle. The sanitation of both distribution activities and the tamponing of all employees were ordered.
In Rome, following a series of inspections carried out by Nas at supermarkets belonging to the large-scale distribution of the capital, supplemented by the execution of 30 surface swabs, the Arpa Lazio laboratory detected 4 positivity to the Rna Sars-CoV-2. In Latina, the Nas, together with the staff of Arpa Lazio, carried out 31 swabs on the surface of greatest contact by the patrons (trolley handles, scale keyboard, pos keyboard, freezer handles) taken from 8 supermarkets in the provinces of Latina and Frosinone. The outcome of the laboratory tests revealed the positivity of two samples to the virus, taken in two different commercial activities for which the report was forwarded to the Prevention Department of the Usl companies for the epidemiological assessments of competence and the imposition of operations of extraordinary sanitation.
In Salerno, at a supermarket, the positivity of a surface swab was detected, out of a total of 14 carried out, taken from the Pos payment terminal. In Cagliari the laboratory of the Experimental Zooprophylactic Institute for Sardinia detected the positivity to the Sars virus -CoV-2 on a surface pad made on the Pos keyboard of an active cash desk in a discount store in Assemini (Cagliari). The remaining samplings carried out in the same commercial exercise were negative, in which the procedures and sanitation obligations imposed by the regulations in force on the subject were in any case respected.
In Livorno, in collaboration with the Asl medical staff, commercial activities of large-scale distribution located in Grosseto, Pisa and San Giuliano Terme (Pisa) were inspected with the execution of a total of 86 surface swabs for the research of Covid-19. The analytical response issued by the Public Health and Industrial Safety laboratory of the Siena Ausl highlighted the positivity of the virus on an electronic time-saving device-automatic shopping reader of a supermarket in Grosseto. In Viterbo, the lawyer responsible for a discount store in the province of Viterbo was reported to the prefecture for failing to observe interpersonal distancing. Administrative violations amounting to 800 euros and the closure of the commercial business for 5 days were contested.
In Palermo, at the conclusion of inspections, two owners of as many supermarkets were sanctioned for failing to provide adequate information on the prevention measures against the risk of contagion from Covid-19, for the lack of sanitation of the environments and the absence of material sanitizer for customers and operators. The ancillary sanction of closure for 5 days was applied to both activities. In Naples, two supermarkets have been identified in the Campania capital that do not comply with the anti Covid-19 prevention measures and two more with serious sanitation deficiencies and subject to administrative closure, seizing a total of 450 kg of various foods.
In Udine, the Nas, in the municipality of Sedegliano, reported the legal manager of a supermarket as responsible for having kept the premises of the structure in poor structural hygiene conditions and failed to indicate the maximum number of customers allowed within the business in order to to contain the spread of covid-19. High administrative penalties for a total amount of 1,400 euros. In Taranto, in two supermarkets located in Mottola and Grottaglie, the continuous operation of the air extractors in the toilets and hygienic-structural inadequacies was ascertained. For the owners, administrative penalties were high for a total of 1,200 euros. In Catania, the NAS, together with medical staff from the ASP of Catania, proceeded to take 14 surface swabs for the search for Covid-19 at a supermarket located in Trimestri Etneo. The analytical results, communicated by the analysis laboratory Uoc Territorial clinical pathology of the Etna municipality, attested the presence of the virus on a swab taken from a fast cash box.