Meat factory confirms more coronavirus cases

Another three cases of coronavirus have been confirmed at a meat processing factory in the West Midlands.

On Friday, pork giant Tulip said it had carried out 104 tests at its Tipton plant, which employs more than 640 staff, on Monday.

All three who had tested positive, together with another 16 employees identified as having close contact with them, are now isolating at home in line with government guidelines.

A total of 35 Covid-19 cases have now been confirmed at the site since March.

Dr Lisa McNally, Sandwell Council’s director of public health, said: “We have now proactively tested 104 staff at Tulip Ltd for coronavirus and have had three positive cases. Tulip has asked a further 16 employees to isolate at home as a precautionary measure.

“The site has had a number of cases since the outbreak of Covid-19 in the UK and are able to report that they have all returned to work safely. We will be conducting further testing across the workforce in the coming days so that we can identify and isolate any further positive cases.”

In a statement, Tulip said: “Our team members at Tipton are key workers who have responded to this global pandemic in the most challenging of circumstances; their health and wellbeing is of the utmost importance and we welcome the support of health authorities.

“We continue to work in partnership with health authorities to prevent the further spread of Covid-19 among our workforce, at work and in the community, as we provide food for the country during these unprecedented times.”

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