Sainsbury's has denied that there has been a surge of coronavirus cases among staff at its Sevenoaks store.

The company said a small number of staff had tested positive for the virus at the store in Otford Road and others had been off work self -isolating, but said with hundreds of full and part-time workers at the store, the incidence was no higher than in the general population.

Posts on social media had placed the figure at 60 members of staff, but the supermarket giant said the true figure was nowhere near that, while declining to give the exact number. It also said a number of staff who had been self-isolating had now been cleared to return to work today.

A spokesperson said: “A small proportion of colleagues have tested positive at our Sevenoaks store and are self-isolating at home.

"Other colleagues are self-isolating as a precaution.

“Safety is our highest priority. We continue to have strict safety measures in place in all our stores, including additional cleaning and social distancing measures, as well as hand sanitiser stations, Perspex screens and PPE for all our colleagues.

"We continue to support Test and Trace and remain in close contact with them.”

The supermarket remains open as normal.

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