New COVID cluster is seen at poultry factory

Concern as seven virus cases found at poultry plant

A new cluster of positive COVID-19 cases at the 2 Sisters meat processing plant in Coupar Angus has caused concern but as yet is not being treated as an incident by Perth and Kinross Council.

On Wednesday afternoon the chief executive of Perth and Kinross Council informed council leader Murray Lyle that seven cases of COVID-19 had been found at the 2 Sisters chicken processing factory and that a number of people were also self-isolating.

The Perthshire chicken factory run by the 2 Sisters Group was closed for a period in August when the virus was rife among the 1000 or so workers there.

Around 200 cases were eventually linked to the outbreak.

The plant reopened after two weeks having had a deep clean and bosses pledged to adopt a stronger prevention protocol.

But on Thursday, Cllr Lyle told the Perthshire Advertiser that he was aware of seven positive coronavirus cases and

“a few more” self-isolating.

“I do not have any more information than that. There is not a significant number of cases at the moment and we have not set up any specific incident management team for now,” Cllr Lyle said.

“We are treating the situation accordingly and seeing that appropriate measures are being taken.”

Perthshire North MSP John Swinney indicated he wished to see the situation carefully monitored: “News of a second outbreak at 2 Sisters will clearly be of concern to both employees and the wider community,” said Mr Swinney.

“As with the previous outbreak, it is imperative that the correct public health protocols are followed to ensure that the virus does not spread any further.”

A NHS Tayside spokesperson said: “NHS Tayside’s health protection team has been made aware of a small number of cases of COVID-19 connected to the 2 Sisters factory.

“The factory is working closely with NHS Tayside’s public health team and the usual arrangements for contact tracing and self-isolation are in place.”