'No entry' sign put up for Cranswick Country Foods staff at betting shop

The sign was on the Betfred shop in Watton High Street

A betting shop put up a sign banning employees of a nearby meat processing plant with a significant coronavirus outbreak from entering its premises.

All 1,000 workers at Cranswick Country Foods in Watton, Norfolk, are to be tested after 144 employees were found positive for Covid-19.

A sign in the High Street Betfred store read "Cranswick workers no entry".

A company spokesman subsequently said: "The sign has been taken down and was not company policy."

Norfolk County Council said the positive test rate at the factory, which produces pork products, was a "cause for concern".

The firm said on Tuesday all those who have tested positive so far were asymptomatic and self-isolating.

A spokesman added they hoped any disruption to the factory would be in the short term only.

Cranswick Country Foods is based on Brandon Road on the outskirts of Watton

Cranswick also has poultry processing sites at Kenninghall in Norfolk and Yaxley in Suffolk.

It is one of several meat processing plants that have experienced an outbreak of coronavirus among staff.

Turkey producer Bernard Matthews in Holton, Suffolk, has been affected since last month, and a small number of workers at its site in Great Witchingham, Norfolk, tested positive.

Banham Poultry in Norfolk closed for two weeks in August and September when more than 120 staff had the virus.

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