PUBLIC health officials have revealed that no new coronavirus cases in North Wales have been identified following local meat factory outbreaks in Wrexham and Anglesey.

The outbreaks in North Wales - centred on the 2 Sisters plant in Llangefni and Rowan Foods in Wrexham – hit the headlines as two of the three food production plants that saw localised spikes of coronavirus linked to their workforces leaving more than 450 infected so far.

Dr Giri Shankar, incident director for the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak response at Public Health Wales, said: “A total of 216 cases of COVID-19 have been reported in relation to the outbreak in the workforce associated with the 2 Sisters workforce in Llangefni.

“In addition, a total of 237 cases of Novel Coronavirus have so far been identified in the workforce associated with Rowan Foods Ltd in Wrexham.

“Investigations in both these outbreaks continue, and updates will be issued in the coming days.

Dr Shankar adds that these outbreaks prove timely to remind the public that they all have a vital role in preventing the spread of coronavirus and by always sticking to social distancing guidelines – staying two metres away from others and washing hands regularly.

He continues: “Public Health Wales welcomes the relaxation of lockdown measures but reminds the public that we are not yet back to business as usual.”

2 Sisters closed voluntarily for two weeks on Thursday, June 18, but Rowan Foods remains open

Last week, the Welsh Government published guidance for similar factory settings about preventing and managing outbreaks of coronavirus.

The new guidance provides clear advice to the sector on a number of areas, including:

• procedures to manage suspected cases, including information about the NHS Wales Test, Trace, Protect service

• workplace risk assessment

• communications with employees

• shared accommodation and transport to site

• entry to site and physical distancing onsite, including in communal areas

• food hygiene

The guidance also recommends that, wherever possible, employees should be organised into groups built around natural work teams. These groups should work together, take their breaks together, change clothes together, and, if relevant, they should travel to work together.

In a statement on June 26, Health Minister Vaughan Gething said: “Following the outbreaks and incidents at these three sites in Wales, I committed to working with Public Health Wales and other agencies to provide new guidance to the sector.

“This provides clear advice and support for the sector to help it prevent and manage coronavirus in the workplace and ensure all necessary safeguards are in place to protect their employees and their families.

“These outbreaks show coronavirus has not gone away. They reinforce the importance of us all following social distancing guidance, continuing good basic hand hygiene and if we have symptoms, staying at home and not going to work.

“By working together, we can keep Wales safe.”