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HEALTH-VIRUS-BRITAIN
Virus shuts UK meat and chicken plants
LONDON, June 19, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – UK authorities have shut down a
meat processing plant and a chicken factory following similar closures
in Germany and France in response to new coronavirus outbreaks.
Production at the chicken processing plant in Wales was halted on
Thursday and the staff told to self-isolate for two weeks after
testing detected 58 new cases.
A meat processing plant voluntarily closed near the northern English
city of Leeds in response to an outbreak that was revealed by Health
Secretary Matt Hancock on Thursday.
The Asda meat plant did not disclose how many infections were
detected or when production was suspended.
“As a precautionary measure we have voluntarily closed the site to
protect colleagues and prevent any further transmission,” it said in a
statement.
Britain’s officials virus death toll of 42,288 is Europe’s highest
and third globally behind the United States and Brazil.
But its infection rates have been falling and health authorities on
Friday lowered the coronavirus alert level from four — the
second-highest — to three.
The new virus clusters in Britain appear to be much smaller than the
one in Germany and similar in size to one in France.
More than 700 people tested positive after an outbreak at a
slaughterhouse in Germany’s most populous state of North
Rhine-Westphalia.
Two slaughterhouses were shut near the northwestern French city of
Rennes after more than 100 infections.
The United States and some other European countries have also been
forced to shut down meat and chicken processing facilities in the past
weeks and months.
Health officials say workers there are especially vulnerable because
they spend many hours working in close quarters.
Britain and most European countries plan to impose local shutdowns
rather than national ones should new clusters emerge as months of
restrictions ease.
BSS/AFP/MRU/1850hrs