Islamic Relief Worldwide has apologised after dozens of staff and volunteers, including its chief executive, broke Covid-19 rules last month. Waseem Ahmad, who was named chief executive of the charity in May, admitted that he was among around 30 people who gathered indoors to celebrate the holy festival of Eid. Under social distancing rules in place at the time, introduced to control the spread of the coronavirus, only six people from two different households were allowed to meet indoors.
Photos taken at the event, first published by the news website Birmingham Live, show Ahmad sharing a meal at the end of Ramadan with colleagues at the charity’s clothes recycling centre. The pictures show that they are not observing social distancing.
An IRW spokesperson apologised for what they said was an “isolated incident”, and stressed that all attendees were tested before the event and none showed any symptoms of Covid-19.
The spokesperson said: “All staff at the meal had their temperature checked on arrival at the office and were asymptomatic. We regret that some did not sufficiently maintain the routine distancing of the working day during the celebration meal, and we will learn from this isolated incident to redouble our efforts in making sure all our activities are fully Covid-compliant.”
