787 Covid-19 cases in food businesses

Nursing homes are the worst hit facilities, with 6,485 cases

According to the Siptu trade union, 90% of meat factory workers have no sick pay, and many of them with Covid symptoms cannot afford to miss work. File Picture. 

Since mid-November, 787 cases of Covid-19 have been detected in meat or poultry production and processing facilities, and 219 in other food or beverage production and processing facilities.

Other than “commercial” premises, with 300 laboratory confirmed cases linked to outbreaks, the food businesses have been the workplaces worst hit by the pandemic, according to the HSE’s Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC).