Coronavirus: Factory outbreaks 'linked to canteens and car shares'

The 2 Sisters plant on Anglesey has been closed due to a coronavirus outbreak

Covid-19 outbreaks at meat processing plants in England and Wales may have spread though canteens and car-sharing, the Environment Secretary has said.

Wales has had two major food factory outbreaks at 2 Sisters, on Anglesey, and Rowan Foods in Wrexham.

In England, 165 staff have tested positive for the virus at a West Yorkshire business.

George Eustice said the UK Government would issue guidance to factories to try to stop the spread.

"We suspect that these outbreaks might have been linked either to canteens or potentially to car-sharing arrangements in those plants," Mr Eustice said.

"And we will be revising guidance to ensure that businesses have the approach that they need to prevent further outbreaks in the future."

A smaller outbreak also took place at Kepak in Merthyr Tydfil.

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Prof Chris Elliot, of the Institute for Global Food Security at Belfast's Queen's University, said it was about "people-to-people transmission."

He thought the disease was being spread through workers sharing accommodation.

"Our meat industry very much relies upon migrant workers, particularly from east Europe," Prof Elliot said.

"There is something very specific about these three facilities in the UK and the big facility in Germany.

"I think it's actually accommodation sharing because often with migrant workers you'll have four, six, eight or ten sharing a house."

There has also been an outbreak at Rowan Foods in Wrexham

Inside the factory conditions were "fantastic" for viruses, he added.

"It's cold, its damp, lots of people working in close proximity to each other," Prof Elliot said.

Chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance also said the cold environment in such plants could be a factor.

Prof Elliot suggested investigators look for similarities, like air conditioning systems, in factories with outbreaks.

In Germany, Europe's largest meat processing plant suffered a Covid-19 outbreak that resulted in about 7,000 people being quarantined.