Covid-19 testing underway at Cork meat plant

TESTING of workers at the Kepak meat plant in Watergrasshill is getting under way today.

The testing follows serial testing at meat plants in Laois, Offaly, and Kildare following Covid-19 outbreaks in plants in those three counties.

Earlier this year, more than 120 workers at the Watergrasshill plant tested positive for the highly contagious virus.

Serial testing is also under way in direct provision centres, while other food production areas including mushroom and fish plants will also be targeted.

The serial testing is also to be rolled out to meat plants outside of Laois, Offaly, and Kildare.

Hundreds of people are to be hired in the coming weeks to work as swabbers for Covid-19 tests.

On Tuesday, a statement issued by Meat Industry Ireland (MII) said it has proposed a detailed code of practice to protect workers in the industry.

The code was discussed with representatives of Siptu on Tuesday, as part of a follow up to a meeting in early August.

The statement said: “MII’s proposal formalises the existing suite of measures in place in members’ processing facilities that have played an important role in delivering the sharp reduction that there has been in the number of clusters in meat plants from 22 in May to four currently.”