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Seven at the Attleborough plant tested positive for the virus, and five others also self-atone as they wait for the results of the controls.
This is the most recent of a series of similar outbreaks, adding one at the 2 Sisters poultry plant in Coupar Angus, Scotland, which has been linked to over a hundred positive cases of Covid-19, and one in the same company in Anglesey. Wales.Array which resulted in more than 220 cases shown in June. There have also been primary outbreaks in Germany, France, Spain and the United States.
The possibility of meat processing plants causing these primary epidemics is a specific fear in East Anglia, which is one of the largest red meat and poultry producing regions in the country.
Health officials said that, there is no conclusive evidence, blood-free and rainy refrigerated paint environments can create ideal situations for the coronavirus to persist and spread, while it can be difficult to keep staff two metres away while running on fast-moving production lines. which are essential for UK food production.
Dr Louise Smith, Director of Public Health at Norfolk, said: “There is speculation, but we are not 100 percent sure. One of the main disorders is that those types of plants that produce our food source have reopened the epidemic because we have to continue producing food, so there has been a superior threat just because they have not been able to close and move away like other places.
“It is imaginable that there is also something in the way the environment works, whether it is a wetter or colder environment. But we don’t have the full evidence yet.”
READ ALSO: The Norfolk Director of Public Fitness warns of more cases of coronavirus after the Banham poultry outbreak There is no evidence that the meat products themselves may be a source of Covid-19 infection in factories. The Food Standards Agency said coronavirus is highly unlikely to get trapped in food.
The heads of Banham Poultry said the company had “invested in a variety of procedures and protective devices to keep our staff as much as possible,” and Dr. Smith said the company’s control team had temporarily moved to help prevent the spread of the virus and was operating hard. Together. with fitness officers to conduct more precautionary tests and insinuate contacts of staff members who tested positive.
WHAT IS BEING DONE TO PROTECT WORKERS?
The government has issued rules on paints on food production plants, adding that staff should be kept at least two metres aside when possible.
But where the rules of the 2m social distance cannot be fully followed, and the activity cannot be rethought and is considered obligatory for the company to operate, states that corporations will have to take all imaginable mitigation measures to reduce the threat of transmission among staff. Include:
Increase the frequency of hand washing and surface cleaning.
Use screens or barriers to separate others from others.
It is possible to work back-to-back or side-by-side (rather than face-to-face).
Reduce the number of others each user is in contact with through constant groups or associations, so that each user only works with a few others.
The British Poultry Council (BPC) said the industry it represents “does everything imaginable to minimize the threat to key personnel who fueled the country” during the Covid-19 crisis and criticized the “unfair description of meat processing plants as a virus.” epicenters.”
In response to past outbreaks, PCB CHIEF executive Richard Griffiths said: “British poultry meat corporations are doing everything they can to protect their workers and major production criteria from farm to plate. Industry has acted responsibly and invested in mandatory infrastructure and practices to implement forcing appropriate social estrangement measures in accordance with government guidelines.
“Where the production environment makes it more unlikely to meet the 2m distance requirement, our activities have been adapted by offering personalized responses such as enhanced PPE, mandatory face masks, plexiglass screens and traffic flow management through amazing paint changes and pauses. important role in ensuring the protection and well-being of our key painters. »
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