Amazon has revealed in a blog post that nearly 20,000 of its workers, or 1.44 percent of the total, in the United States have contracted the novel coronavirus.

The e-commerce giant pointed out that its analysis suggests that the rate of infection among 1.4 million workers at Amazon and its Whole Foods subsidiary was 42 percent lower than the rate expected based on the broader population in the country.

If the company’s infection rates were in line with the general population, the total number of cases would have reached 33,952, the company said.

There have been at least eight confirmed Amazon worker deaths due to the coronavirus.

Meanwhile, Walmart, the largest employer in the United States, had previously said in April that less than 1 percent of its 1.5 million employees have contracted the virus. The company, though, has not released any updated data.

Since the global pandemic began, Amazon has continued to face criticism from labor groups who allege that the company isn’t doing nearly enough to protect its employees, particularly those who work in warehouses.

“Amazon allowed COVID-19 to spread like wildfire in its facilities, risking the health of tens of thousands of people who work at Amazon—as well as their family members, neighbors, and friends,” Dania Rajendra, the director of Athena, a coalition campaigning for increased regulatory oversight of Amazon, said in a statement.

“Amazon is, in no uncertain terms, a threat to public health.”

In the blog post, Amazon noted that it offers its employees comprehensive health insurance and paid time off for any individual who needs to be quarantined because of the coronavirus.

The company added that thousands of coronavirus tests are being conducted daily, and it expects that to grow to 50,000 tests a day across 650 facilities by November.

Not surprisingly, Amazon has been one of the biggest corporate winners during the ongoing pandemic, as millions have flocked to online shopping amid lockdowns and business closures.

In the last quarter, Amazon reported sales of $88.9 billion, up 40 percent from $63.4 billion a year prior and well ahead of the company’s own forecast of $75 billion to $81 billion.

“This was another highly unusual quarter, and I couldn’t be more proud of and grateful to our employees around the globe,” Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos said in a statement after the earnings call.

E-commerce sales in the United States surged more than 30 percent between the first and second quarter of this year, according to recent data released by the U.S. Department of Commerce.

Ethen Kim Lieser is a Minneapolis-based Science and Tech Editor who has held posts at Google, The Korea Herald, Lincoln Journal Star, AsianWeek and Arirang TV. Follow or contact him on LinkedIn.

FILE PHOTO: The logo of Amazon is seen on the door of an Amazon Books retail store in New York City, U.S., February 14, 2019. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/File Photo