Shropshire Star

Race to trace more than 300 workers after coronavirus outbreak at Wrexham food factory

Efforts are underway to contact more than 300 workers based at a Wrexham food factory following a coronavirus outbreak.

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A total of 166 cases have now been confirmed among staff at Rowan Foods Ltd since June 21.

More than 1,000 employees in the area have been checked, but a number have still not yet presented for testing.

Public Health Wales Covid-19 outbreak incident response director Dr Giri Shankar said: “Testing of the workforce associated with an outbreak of Novel Coronavirus (Covid-19) in the Wrexham area is continuing.

“Public Health Wales is in the process of combining test information to identify the total number of positive cases associated with the workforce at Rowan Foods Ltd. So far this process has identified a total of 166 confirmed cases.

“The number of cases reported today suggests no change has occurred in the past 24 hours. However, we expect this number to go up once all the workers associated with the site have been tested and their results analysed.

“We are working with Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board to urgently contact just over 300 workers that have not yet presented for testing.

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“As we would expect with any focused track and trace process, we will identify additional asymptomatic cases. Finding these cases does not mean that the rate of infection in the Wrexham area is increasing as a whole.

“There is no evidence that Rowan Foods is the source of the outbreak. The multi-agency team managing the outbreak with Public Health Wales will continue to review the situation and work with the employer, their workforce and wider community to bring this outbreak to a swift conclusion."

Powys County Council has been helping Wrexham Borough Council to track and trace residents.

The Food Standards Agency said that it is unlikely anyone can catch coronavirus from food.

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