Greencore began testing after local accumulation of coronavirus cases
Last updated: Friday, August 14, 2020 04.37 BST
Nearly 300 employees tested positive for coronavirus after an outbreak at a Northampton plant making M-S sandwiches.
Greencore said some of them are self- isolating after a significant number of other people tested positive for coronavirus. The corporation has taken the decision to proactively verify staff due to a building in instances in the city.
A spokeswoman for the Northamptonshire County Council said 79 others had tested positive for the NHS and another 213 tested positive for Greencore’s personal tests.
In a statement, Greencore said: “Due to the growing number of Covid-19 instances in the Northampton area, we have taken the resolution to proactively initiate all colleagues on our Northampton site. We can verify that several colleagues have tested positive for the virus and now self-isolate the virus.
“We work heavily with PHE East Midlands, the Northamptonshire County Council and the Northampton Township Council, which are completely the checks we have on the site.”
Greencore stated that in case the company sought contacts and asked its potentially affected colleagues to isolate themselves.
The corporation added: “All Greencore sites have extensive social distance measures, strict hygiene procedures and normal temperature control, and we are doing everything we can to protect our employees.
“As always, the physical form and well-being of our colleagues is our most sensitive priority.”
Lucy Wightman, director of public fitness at Northamptonshire County Council, said workers were asked to “act now” after the number of cases shown in the city increased from 66 in the week ending 2 August to 85 in the week ending 9 August.
The outbreak at a Northampton plant follows a similar outbreak at a meat processing site in Asda, West Yorkshire, where 165 workers contracted the virus in June.
The Guardian reported that more than 450 employees at 4 food plants in England and Wales tested positive for coronavirus in June. Health officials were largely tracking groups of new cases similar to food processing plants after similar outbreaks in France and the United States. In the United States, up to 25,000 meat and poultry employees are reported to have Covid-19, with at least 93 deaths.
The Northamptonshire County council said it was running with Greencore colleagues in the wake of the Covid-19 outbreak and that Public Health England Midlands had provided support.
Wightman added: “This was complemented by the local infection prevention and control team and the environmental fitness colleagues at Northampton City Council. It is transparent that Greencore has implemented highly effective measures and continues to paint incredibly difficult to overcome the mandatory needs to ensure Covid-19’s protection in place of paints.
“The Township of Northampton has noticed a large number of cases in the last 4 weeks and citizens and workers have been asked to ‘act now’ to stick to additional measures for local blockade or additional government intervention.”
Ian Hodson, national president of the Bakers, Food and Related Workers Union, said: “We’re involved with Greencore. Since the March outbreak, our regional leader has been in constant contact on many issues.