Eight new cases in Cedar Meats abattoir coronavirus outbreak
Seventy-one people associated with a coronavirus outbreak at Cedar Meats have now tested positive for the virus. It comes as Scott Morrison commends Daniel Andrews on his handling of the situation.
SEVENTY-one people associated with a Melbourne meat processing facility have now tested positive for coronavirus.
It has been a week since Cedar Meats in Brooklyn closed after eight workers tested positive for the virus.
Victorian Police Minister Lisa Neville announced this morning that eight of the 13 new cases across Victoria yesterday were associated with the abattoir outbreak.
One existing coronavirus case was also linked to Cedar Meats, after further investigation, taking the total number of cases in the cluster to 71.
At least 49 of these people are workers at the abattoir.
A staff member at a Footscray aged care facility has been confirmed as one of the close-contact cases.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison today commended Victoria’s response to the outbreak, but said the Federal Government’s COVIDSafe app would have “sped things up had all of that been fully operational”.
“I commend (Victorian) Premier (Daniel) Andrews on the way that he has sought to address this issue,” Mr Morrison said.
“These outbreaks are difficult but you’ve got to move quickly and use the tools you’ve got available to you.”
Chief Medical Officer professor Brendan Murphy added that he was confident the outbreak at Cedar Meats was under control.
“It’s not surprising when you get an outbreak in a workplace such as this it will spread significantly,” Prof Murphy said.
“The important thing is not the size of the outbreak. The important thing is the response and the response is testing everybody, every contact, locking the place down, closing it down, quarantining and isolating — all of those things have been done and I’m very confident that outbreak is under control.”
It comes as the Victorian Government is accused of ignoring calls to work with the federal Department of Agriculture on delivering nationally consistent health protocols to minimise the spread of coronavirus in food processing plants.
This week, a new timeline of the outbreak at Cedar Meats revealed the first case linked to the worksite in Brooklyn was diagnosed on Friday, April 24, followed by another just over 24 hours later.
The first Cedar Meats employee to test positive for coronavirus, but not directly linked with the worksite, was diagnosed on April 2. The Department of Health said the person had not been at Cedar Meats for four weeks, so the abattoir was not considered an exposure site.
The revelations of the outbreak timeline at Cedar Meats came after the department and Victorian Government refused to reveal the identity of the abattoir and when the first person tested positive for the virus.
The initial “secrecy” surrounding the business’ identity was condemned by agriculture industry leaders.
There have been 1467 cases of coronavirus across Victoria. 117 of those cases are active.
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TIMELINE OF CEDAR MEATS VIRUS OUTBREAK
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