Evesham food packers' minibus identified as virus outbreak source

All staff at Evesham Vale Growers Limited in Worcestershire are being tested for Covid-19

A minibus carrying food packaging workers has been identified as the source of a coronavirus outbreak.

Fourteen staff at Evesham Vale Growers Limited in Worcestershire tested positive for Covid-19 since Monday.

Public Health officials have now traced the cases to a minibus which transported workers from Sandwell, where another outbreak was identified.

All 340 staff at the plant are now being tested for the virus, with results expected over the weekend.

Fourteen staff at the plant tested positive after travelling on a minibus from Sandwell

New figures show new cases of coronavirus in Sandwell have risen to 86 in the week up to 20 July. It follows an outbreak at a cardboard packaging firm in West Bromwich where 49 of 117 workers tested positive.

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Dr Kathryn Cobain, the director of public health in Worcestershire, confirmed the cases at the Evesham site, which packs and distributes vegetables and salad products, "were related to a known outbreak in the Sandwell area".

"Most of them were linked to the bus that they key workers travelled on to get to work, but we had one case that wasn't linked to the bus," she said.

The food packing firm said a host of preventative measures were in place, including screens, hand washing facilities, extra cleaning and protocols for workers arriving at and leaving the site.

All staff are being tested as a precaution, Public Health England said, and they have been advised to isolate when not in work.

It will make a decision on its next step when test results are returned after the weekend.

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