Factories linked to 2 Sisters outbreak

TWO food factories have been linked to a major coronavirus outbreak at a chicken plant.

The number of cases involved in the outbreak at the 2 Sisters poultry plant in Coupar Angus, Perthshire, has soared to 68.

Of the 1,200 permanent or agency staff based on the site, 59 have tested positive, along with nine of their close contacts.

Those contacts include two workers at unnamed food factories in Tayside.

Confirming the figures yesterday, Nicola Sturgeon said there was not yet any evidence that the virus has spread in these premises – but she refused to rule out further measures to tackle the outbreak.

It is estimated that several thousand people have gone into quarantine following the Coupar Angus factory outbreak, after all family of staff members, including children, were told to stay at home for a fortnight in a bid to prevent the spread of the virus.

Yesterday, a further 71 positive cases were confirmed across Scotland, including 31 in the Tayside health board area.

Staff working for the 2 Sisters plant are said to live in three different council areas – Perth and Kinross, Angus, and Dundee.

The factory was closed for a fortnight on Monday and 600 staff have been tested at a mobile centre.

At her daily coronavirus briefing yesterday, the First Minister said the incident management team was carrying out risk assessments at the Tayside food processing factories.

She said: ‘There is no evidence that this outbreak has spread to either factory at this stage.

‘But that is something that is being looked at very closely.’

Miss Sturgeon insisted that the outbreak was different to the situation in Aberdeen, which is under a local lockdown.

She said specific households were instead being targeted with increased restrictions.

The incident management team in Coupar Angus had ruled there was minimal evidence of community transmission in Tayside, which was ‘not something we were able to say with any confidence about the outbreak in Aberdeen’, Miss Sturgeon added.

She said officials would examine other restrictions if there was a ‘risk of wider’ community transmission.

Miss Sturgeon said there was a ‘real possibility of containing’ the Coupar Angus cluster ‘with targeted action’, and described the stay-at-home quarantine order as ‘more severe’ than the restrictions in Aberdeen.

She added: ‘If we thought that hadn’t been successful and we had wider spread or the risk of wider spread community transmission, obviously we would have to look at more community-based restrictions.

‘But I don’t want to start to speculate on that right now because it is not the position we’re in. It will not always look the same from one area to another because the nature of it will drive the response.’

The 71 new cases confirmed in Scotland yesterday took the national total since the beginning of the pandemic to 19,605.

It was the second highest daily increase since May 23, after the 77 recorded on Thursday. As well as the 31 cases in the NHS Tayside area, there were 16 in Greater Glasgow and Clyde, ten in Grampian and four in Lanarkshire.

Miss Sturgeon said the cluster linked to Aberdeen pubs was ‘improving’, with the cases remaining unchanged at 237.

A review of the Aberdeen local lockdown measures is due on Sunday and could see the measures lifted from Wednesday.

‘It will not always look the same’