Coronavirus: Third West Yorkshire bed factory outbreak

A mobile testing unit has been set up at the Highgrove Beds site

A bed factory has seen eight workers test positive for coronavirus - the third in a series of outbreaks at similar sites in West Yorkshire.

Highgrove Beds in Liversedge ceased production as a safety precaution with all staff being offered tests.

The outbreak follows cases at Deep Sleep Beds in Ossett and Dura Beds in Batley over the past month.

There have also been cases of coronavirus reported at two meat factories in West Yorkshire.

Rachel Spencer-Henshall, director of public health at Kirklees Council, warned factory workers of the risk of car sharing.

She said: "With the bed factories, it's less about the industry itself and more about working in a factory setting.

"What interests me a lot more is how people get to and from work, because actually you find a lot of people are car-sharing and in those scenarios you're in quite close contact with others for quite a long period of time, dependent on the commute."

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Kirklees Council have been working with Highgrove Beds for about five days with an increase in cases seen over the weekend.

The factory has been was inspected by Kirklees Council and "presented high standards of infection control procedures and practices".

In a joint statement, the company, the council and Public Health England said the risk to local residents from the outbreak was very low.

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Earlier this month, four workers at Deep Sleep Beds tested positive for Covid-19.

On 1 July, it was revealed that eight staff at Dura Beds had contracted the virus.

This comes as Forza Foods in Normanton reported 17 positive cases.

Last month it was confirmed that 165 staff working at the Kober factory in Cleckheaton had tested positive for the virus.

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Ms Spencer-Henshall said that certain industries have seen increases in cases including meat processing.

She added: "Those factory conditions can be really attractive to the virus, particularly being a cold environment and quite loud so people are having to communicate and shout.

"We all know that singing is frowned upon at the moment and it's a similar thing in terms of projecting the virus."

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