No meat products to be recalled as Cedar Meats outbreak hits 62 cases
A Marcellin College student has been infected with coronavirus as the Cedar Meats cluster explodes to 62 cases and possible links between Labor MPs and the Brooklyn abattoir emerge.
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A Marcellin College student has been infected with coronavirus as the Cedar Meats cluster explodes to 62 cases.
The Andrews Government faces fresh questions over its handling of the outbreak, as it has also emerged Cedar Meats owner Tony Kairouz was a paid-up Labor member for more than two decades.
The Department of Health and Human Services on Thursday night confirmed the Marcellin College student was a “close contact of a confirmed case with the Cedar Meats outbreak”.
The student is now in self-isolation.
“The department’s investigation found no risk to anyone at the school,” DHHS said.
College principal John Hickey said the student was “in good spirits”, and had not been at the school this term.
“We keep this young man and his family in our thoughts and prayers as he recovers from the virus,” he said.
The update comes as the abattoir’s coronavirus cluster grew by 13 cases overnight on Wednesday, as it was revealed Labor MPs have connections to the company.
Of the new cases seven are workers from the facility and six are close contacts.
The owner of Cedar Meats has also been revealed to be a former Labor Party member.
Cedar Meats owner Tony Kairouz was a paid-up member for more than two decades until his membership lapsed in 2017.
It is understood Mr Kairouz — a member of Labor’s Heidelberg branch — was not aware it had ended.
A spokeswoman for Cedar Meats said Mr Kairouz was a member of a range of organisations and was active within Melbourne’s western community.
“In terms of the outbreak, Tony’s membership of any community organisation or political party is irrelevant.”
Earlier this week it was revealed Cedar Meats donated $15,000 to the Victorian Labor Party in 2014.
Premier Daniel Andrews has denied Cedar Meats had received special treatment because of its close relationship with Labor MPs.
A WorkSafe employee is also being tested after responding to an incident at Cedar Meats last month, in which a worker severed his thumb.
The WorkSafe employee has not reported any symptoms but is self-isolating, as are five others the employee had contact with.
“The WorkSafe employee has not reported any symptoms, however has been tested as a precaution and is now self-isolating while awaiting the results,” a WorkSafe spokesman said.
The employee was contacted by DHHS about the potential exposure.
No meat products will need to be recalled as a result of the Cedar Meats coronavirus outbreak.
In a statement after a meeting of the nation’s agriculture ministers on Thursday, Federal Agriculture Minister David Littleproud confirmed there was “no evidence that COVID-19 is transmitted by food, which is a real comfort for us all and our agricultural sector”.
“There was agreement by all state and territory ministers to convene a review of business continuity involving state agriculture, workplace health and safety, health officials and the meat industry,” he said.
“And the Commonwealth will be involved too, as it has responsibility around meat exports and certification.”
“We will remain agile to the concerns and issues that arise out of COVID-19 to make sure that lives and livelihoods are saved.”
“By working together we will get through this and we will make sure Australia’s food security remains among the best in the world.”
Premier Daniel Andrews has previously confirmed there was no relationship between the Brooklyn abattoir and Consumer Affairs Minister Marlene Kairouz, and on Thursday morning downplayed other connections between MPs and the business at the centre of one of the country’s biggest outbreaks.
However parliament records show upper house MP Nazih Elasmar paid tribute to Cedar Meats founder Sam Kairouz who died in 2010, describing him as a “brother”.
It is understood at least two other members also have connections to the business.
“The name Kairouz is a very popular name among the Lebanese community … the minister is very proud of her Lebanese heritage … a person has died some time ago, some people have said some nice things about him, apparently that’s an issue,” Mr Andrews said this morning.
The links have raised concerns over the government’s handling of the case including whether the relationships contributed to the decision to not name the business publicly.
Mr Andrews moved to calm concerns over the cluster, saying he was very “proud” of the work of contact tracers and the public health team.
“They follow up every lead and they do it diligently,” he said.
Of the Cedar Meats cases, all infected persons have so far shown mild symptoms and none have had to be hospitalised to date.
“This again makes the point that many people may not know they have the virus,” Mr Andrews said.
“The meatworks has been closed, it has been deep cleaned. People have been tested.
“Anybody who works at that meatworks will be tested over the course of time. I’m confident that everything that can be done is being done by a dedicated team of tracers.”
He said he would not rule out more cases from the outbreak.
GOVERNMENT’S FAILINGS BEFORE OUTBREAK EXPOSED
The Victorian Government failed to formally respond to a federal push for tougher workplace safety rules for abattoirs for several weeks before the Cedar Meats coronavirus outbreak.
Federal Agriculture Minister David Littleproud said this morning that he had discussed the need for new protocols at several meetings of the nation’s agriculture ministers.
He said a verbal agreement had been reached, but that after he wrote to all states and territories, only Tasmania and the ACT replied.
The protocols were designed to advise abattoirs on how to work more safely during the pandemic, while also ensuring clear guidelines to respond to any outbreaks.
Mr Littleproud said the failure of some states to respond was unfortunate.
Asked this morning on 3AW if the protocols could have reduced the chance of the Cedar Meats outbreak, he said: “I don’t want to speculate but I think that’s one of the things we need to explore, and I think is a good opportunity to explore that.”
Mr Littleproud said the federal government only became aware of the outbreak through “gossip” heard by inspectors who had been checking the plant.
“It’s important that there is transparency and, and swift action in notifying, particularly those that come into contact, so that we don’t spread this virus,” he said.
“That’s really the essence of this. I’m not looking for any recriminations, everyone’s trying to do that at the moment. But we just want to make sure we get a better protocol on this.”
“I think in these fluid times we need to all be mature enough to say we can always do things better.”
State Agriculture Minister Jaclyn Symes wrote to Mr Littleproud on May 5 more than a week after the cluster had been identified, assuring the Federal Government that safety in food businesses was a priority and that the state was working “collaboratively” with companies to improve safety during the pandemic.
“All Victorian agriculture and food businesses continue to focus on food safety as a non- negotiable aspect of their operations,” she wrote.
“Continued efforts to update advice for these businesses on food safety is vital, and we have already seen considerable work on these matters at Victorian and national levels.”
Opposition Leader Michael O’Brien said an independent inquiry was necessary to explain how the cluster happened.
“Another 13 people diagnosed with coronavirus over the night linked to Cedar Meats, It has now become Victoria’s biggest coronavirus cluster.
“The health minister says with 62 people infected and counting that it has been handled absolutely perfectly, well if this is absolutely perfect I would hate to see a cock up,”
“Too many Victorians have been exposed here.”
– Tom Minear and Alex White
Outbreak was handled ‘perfectly’
Authorities yesterday defended contact tracing methods in Victoria as the Cedar Meats cluster was labelled Victoria’s Ruby Princess.
Health Minister Jenny Mikakos rejected concerns that the first case of COVID-19 infection, a meat worker on April 2, had been ruled out too quickly as a worksite exposure.
She said she had been briefed on the timeline and was satisfied the case had been “handled absolutely perfectly”.
Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt said this morning that Victoria had done “a very, very good job” in “difficult circumstances” on tracing and containing the outbreak.
It came as worker from a Footscray nursing home tested positive to coronavirus in the latest link to the expanding outbreak at Cedar Meats.
The Herald Sun understands the nursing home worker is the partner of a Cedar Meats employee, who had been one of the 49 cases confirmed at the Brooklyn abattoir.
Doutta Galla Aged Services said the staff member had no symptoms and is currently in isolation at their home.
“There is not an outbreak nor a COVID-19 cluster, and no resident or staff are showing
signs of infection,” the nursing home said in a statement.
“Doutta Galla Aged Services has already activated its emergency response including notifying the relevant state and federal government authorities and has commenced testing staff and residents.”
The nursing home will be closed to all visitation until at least May 11.
Mikakos comments came after Opposition Leader Michael O’Brien accused the State Government of “dropping the ball” and questioned why testing was not carried out at the meatworks in Melbourne’s west three weeks earlier.
“This is Daniel Andrews’ own Ruby Princess,” Mr O’Brien said.
“We are seeing massive outbreaks of coronavirus, the numbers are going up and the government meeds to explain how they got this so wrong.”
Mr O’Brien called for an independent review, saying the Public Accounts and Estimates inquiry into the Victorian Government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic was not adequate to oversee the Cedar Meats case.
Concerns over the timeline were first raised on Monday, with the Department of Health and Human Services issuing a background report late at night.
The following morning Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton still could not answer questions, including whether the worker’s claim he had not been at work for four weeks had been checked.
He said information provided by infected persons was “taken on face value”.
“Everyone needs to tell the truth and everyone needs to say where they have been and who they were with,” he said.
The cluster now has 49 positive results — 45 workers and four close contacts — with the tally expected to grow.
More than 300 workers at the Cedar Meats site in Brooklyn have been tested and remain in quarantine. The site has been shut for cleaning.
“There has been no breakdown at all,” she said.
“I am absolutely confident they have done everything possible to contain this outbreak.
Opposition health spokeswoman Georgie Crozier said virus transmission from the abattoir to a nursing home underlined the need for a full and independent inquiry.
“Given there are now allegations that the Cedar Meats cluster outbreak has extended to a nursing home, putting the lives of some of our most vulnerable at risk, the government must launch an independent inquiry,” Ms Crozier said.
“The independent inquiry must uncover exactly what has happened, and the extent of government failings to prevent this from happening again.”
Concerns outbreak was given ‘three-week headstart”
An investigation is under way to probe if federal Department of Agriculture officials could have spread the coronavirus between abattoirs after they inspected the Cedar Meats facility in Melbourne.
Federal Agriculture Minister David Littleproud has asked the department to look into when Victorian officials alerted the department of the outbreak.
“I have some concern in which I am investigating because there were Commonwealth departmental people going through those abattoirs doing inspections, and I am just getting to the bottom of when we were notified, because obviously they make an inspection in one abattoir and move to another,” Mr Littleproud said on Wednesday morning.
“I want to understand when we were notified and how we were notified because potentially those commonwealth Department of Agriculture people who were in the abattoir potentially could have spread the virus.”
The Australian has revealed health authorities decided that a Melbourne abattoir was “not considered an exposure site” because the first infected employee “had not been at work while infectious”.
The Department of Health and Human Services on Tuesday night confirmed the first case of COVID-19 linked to the Melbourne abattoir Cedar Meats was diagnosed on April 2 — three weeks before a second case was identified as part of a cluster which has now reached 49 infections.
The Herald Sun can also reveal the man found to have COVID-19 on April 2 holds a senior position at Cedar Meats and is not in regular contact with the factory floor or other workers who began testing positive for the virus three weeks later.
Victorian Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton on Wednesday said the man had not reported being at Cedar Meats in the four weeks before testing positive for coronavirus, so the abattoir was not examined as a possible exposure site until other cases emerged from April 24.
“We have no idea his connection — it is part of a hypothesis that he may be connected through some unknown linkage outside work,” Prof Sutton said.
“When he was identified on April 2 he had not worked at Cedar Meats, he had not been at Cedar Meats while he was unwell.”
No federal officials who went to the facility have tested positive for the virus, according to Deputy Nationals Leader Littleproud.
“Before we start pointing the finger, I think we need to understand what’s happened and we learn from it,” Mr Littleproud said.
“I’m not necessarily pointing fingers but I want to get an understanding of how we get in place protocols that will protect everyone quicker and better.
“As I understand, no one within the Department (of Agriculture) working in that part of the department has tested positive in this stage.
“We’re trying to pieces together the chain of events.”
He said that despite the outbreak, Australians should still buy Australians meat.
“People should not fear any meat that was processed through any abattoirs,” Mr Littleproud.
“It cannot be processed through any meat. There is no panic needed in that.”
HOW CLUSTER UNFOLDED
Cedar Meats general manager Tony Kairouz has said he “first became aware” that one of his 350 employees was infected on April 27, after a worker was rushed to the Sunshine Hospital for emergency surgery on a severed thumb and tested positive for COVID-19.
But in response to questions from The Australian submitted hours earlier, DHHS confirmed late on Tuesday that the “first case in this cluster was diagnosed on 2 April, but had not been at work while infectious so the workplace was not considered an exposure site”.
“The second case linked to the workplace was diagnosed on 24 April, followed quickly by a third case just over 24 hours later who had been a patient at Sunshine Hospital for unrelated reasons prior to diagnosis or displaying symptoms,” the department confirmed. “These cases were the first indication of a possible cluster. As soon as more than one case linked to the workplace was identified, active case finding commenced. The source of infection is still under investigation.
“A thorough risk assessment was undertaken and work was rapidly scaled back at the facility, with only minimal staff on site to ensure the safe and appropriate management of the remaining animals.
“When more cases were identified on 29 April the department advised the workplace to take additional actions across the entire workforce — including the testing of all staff. All results are expected to be returned as soon as possible and the results shared daily.
“The facility has been advised to close for at least 14 days, which will continue to be reviewed based on health information.
“Advice from Food Standards Australia New Zealand is that there is no evidence COVID-19 can be transmitted to people through food or packaging. Based on this information, consumers can have confidence that meat processed at the facility is safe to eat.”
The department has confirmed another three cases among close contacts of Cedar Meats workers who tested positive.
Four cases were confirmed in staff working in one area of the plant last Wednesday, with eight cases confirmed by Saturday, rising to 15 on Sunday.
On Monday, an additional 19 cases were confirmed, with a further 11 confirmed on Tuesday and four today.
The original source of the outbreak has not been established, and there is no known connection between a shipment of mutton from Cedar Meats which was exported to China last month, and the infections, which were first detected more than a fortnight later.
The 35 tonnes of mutton was trucked to the airport and flown to Wuhan, China, on April 9, as the backload on a flight which arrived in Sydney the previous day with 90 tonnes of protective masks, gowns and ventilators.
The Victorian government and Health Department chose not to name Cedar Meats at the weekend as the abattoir linked to the COVID-19 cases, despite naming a school linked to just one case.
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