POSTAGE delays continue in Wyre Forest this week after more than 50 staff were forced to self-isolate when cases of coronavirus were confirmed at the Kidderminster branch.

Staff at Kidderminster delivery office who received the Test and Trace NHS app notification to isolate are expected to return to work this week after days of postage delays in the area.

It comes after two people tested positive for Covid-19 at the site last week, leading to a large number of colleagues being forced to self-isolate for 10 days.

Reports suggest that postal staff have been brought in from other areas to help plug the staff shortage, while remaining staff have been offered overtime and some deliveries were made on Sunday to tackle the delivery backlog.

A Royal Mail Spokesperson said: "Every letter and parcel is important to Royal Mail. Across the UK, our people are working hard to deliver as comprehensive a service as possible delivering letters and parcels to all our customers in challenging circumstances.

"Deliveries are being made every day or every other day. Staff who have been self-isolating at Kidderminster delivery office are expected to return to work this week, which will allow the office to resume a normal service.

"We remain grateful to all our customers in these areas for their patience and understanding as our dedicated workforce work hard to deliver these exceptional volumes, whilst also adhering to necessary social distancing measures”.

One Kidderminster worker said last week: "We've got at least two thirds of our staff off at the moment self-isolating which is going to cause a major distribution problem.

"We've had a couple of Covid cases but a lot of people are having to self-isolate because they've come into contact with them. It's at least 50.

"There's less people to do the job so others are worried about the impact that will have on the workload. We were struggling so much with Covid anyway with all the extra parcels."

Royal Mail said it had carried out an intensive clean of the delivery office in Crossley Retail Park since the cases were confirmed.

Explaining the hygiene precautions already in place, a Royal Mail spokesman added: "Throughout this crisis, every decision we make puts the health of our people and customers first. We have put in place a range of preventive measures to protect both our customers and our colleagues.

"We were the first UK company to put in place social-distancing measures in relation to parcel delivery. We pioneered contact-free delivery. We are temporarily not handing over our hand-held devices to customers to capture signatures.

"As well as encouraging good hand hygiene, standard ways of working have been revised to ensure that colleagues maintain appropriate social distancing at all times.

"All staff have been briefed about the social distancing measures jointly agreed by local management and the CWU.

"This has been supplemented with visible reminders such as posters and one-way floor markings”.