More than 100 coronavirus cases recorded across three Victorian abattoirs
Coronavirus is hitting abattoirs at an alarming rate with a disturbing number of cases in three separate meat-processing plants across Victoria.
Infections across three separate Victorian abattoirs surpassed 100 overnight after the state recorded 275 new coronavirus cases.
A cluster at the Australian Lamb Company in Colac doubled in the past 24 hours to 12 cases, while 36 could be linked to JBS abattoirs in Brooklyn and 57 at Somerville Retail Services in Tottenham.
Australian Lamb Company, Colac’s largest workplace, has been closed for two weeks after it learned about the first positive cases at its site in Victoria’s southwest on Friday.
At least 1200 workers at JBS Australia’s meat processing site in Brooklyn are in self-isolation after they were deemed close contacts.
According to its website, Somerville Retail Services employs about 400 people and supplies Coles with beef, lamb and pork products.
The Tottenham business has been closed for cleaning and staff are in quarantine.
Victoria’s chief medical officer Professor Brett Sutton had previously described abattoirs as “intrinsically difficult” to manage.
“People who have more insecure work and are really obliged to come to work, obviously, are more likely to turn up with symptoms,” he said.
“We have to reach into all these communities in order to understand how best to support them for the things we know that will work, the isolation and quarantine. It is critically important not to come to work even with the mildest of symptoms.”
Twelve schools in Victoria closed for deep cleaning on Monday, with the Al-Taqwa College outbreak nearing 200 infections.
The number of Victorians in hospital with the virus continues to rise at 147, an increase of 17 since Sunday, with 31 patients in intensive care.
A woman in her 80s is the latest fatality, bringing the total number of deaths in the state to 39.
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