Coronavirus: Herefordshire farm locked down after 73 cases confirmed
A farm in Herefordshire has been locked down after 73 of its workers tested positive for coronavirus, it was announced yesterday.
Public Health England and Herefordshire council said that up to 200 employees at the farm had been asked to self-isolate due to the outbreak at vegetable producers AS Green and Co.
Workers at the farm, who are currently employed to pick and pack food during harvesting season, have been segregated into the mobile homes they live in.
The local council, which is arranging food and essential supplies for the farm, which is near Malvern in Worcestershire, said that it believed the outbreak had been “contained”.
Despite the company having already put in place a number of measures to prevent the spread of the disease, PHE said that it had taken the “precautionary measure” of testing the entire workforce.
The initial results showed a significant percentage of positive cases, despite the individuals being asymptomatic, PHE said.
Although the number of confirmed cases of the virus countrywide fell to 650 yesterday, a number of outbreaks at food producers such as meat processing plants has led to fears that there might be a resurgence in cases.
The lockdown came as health secretary Matt Hancock revealed that there were as many as 100 outbreaks of the disease a week.
Writing in the Telegraph, Hancock said that most of these were being dealt with “swiftly and silently” through measures such as local lockdowns and walk-in testing centres.
Targeted lockdowns, many of which he said would go unnoticed, are a key part of the government’s plans to reopen more of the economy while continuing to “hunt down the virus”.
Hancock wrote that the localised approach was only possible through the growing capacity of the NHS test and trace programme.
“This service is our radar, helping us to understand how this virus is spreading, so we can hunt down coronavirus and keep it contained”, he said.