Amazon employee at Staten Island warehouse where employees protested working conditions and called for more safety measures dies of COVID-19

An Amazon worker at a warehouse in New York where employees called for greater coronavirus safety measures has died of COVID-19, the e-commerce giant says.

'We are deeply saddened by the loss of an associate at our site in Staten Island, NY,' an Amazon spokesperson Kristen Kish said in a statement to DailyMail.com on Tuesday.

'His family and loved ones are in our thoughts, and we are supporting his fellow colleagues,' she added. 

The company says that the employee was last onsite on April 5 and was confirmed to have the virus on April 11 as he remained in quarantine. Contact tracing revealed no link to other employees.

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Workers are seen protesting outside of Amazon's Staten Island fulfillment center, known within the company as JFK8, last Friday. An employee at the warehouse has died of COVID-19, the company revealed on Tuesday

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An Amazon sign stands in a parking lot outside of an Amazon warehouse as the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) continues in the Staten Island borough of New York

Amazon has become a lifeline for consumers facing lockdowns and restrictions around the world, and the company is in the process of adding some 175,000 new employees to cope with surging demand.

But the company has also faced protests from warehouse workers and activists who claim Amazon has failed to do enough to keep them safe.

In March, New York Attorney General Letitia James called for an investigation after Amazon fired employee Chris Smalls after he organized a walkout of workers at the warehouse.More than a dozen demonstrators, including employees and activists, protested outside the Staten Island warehouse last week.

Smalls claimed the company was failing to take precautions to protect warehouse staff from COVID-19, and said that between 50 and 60 employees at the facility had contracted the illness.

Amazon said Smalls was fired after he went to work after contracting coronavirus, in a violation of quarantining rules.

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Former Amazon employee, Christian Smalls stands with fellow demonstrators during a protest outside of an Amazon warehouse in Staten Island on May 1

Amazon insists it has invested to protect staff and says the rate of infection at the Staten Island facility is significantly below the community rate.

The company says it believes its employees at the Staten Island facility who tested positive were likely exposed at home or in the community, and that there was no evidence that they were linked through the workplace.

Amazon says that it is spending $800 million in the first half of the year on safety precautions to protect its workforce from coronavirus. 

New York is the worst-hit state in the country, with more than 320,000 declared cases and around 20,000 deaths.

On Monday, Tim Bray, an Amazon vice president, said he had resigned in protest at the company sacking three staff who spoke out against treatment in warehouses.

In France, Amazon has been locked in a battle with labor unions which say not enough was done to mitigate contagion risk for staff working in close proximity to process a flood of orders amid the nationwide lockdown.

France's labor ministry said it had denied a request by Amazon for emergency funds to pay employees during the coronavirus crisis after the US behemoth shut its warehouses following a court order to sell only essential items.