Close to 300 staff at Greencore’s sandwich facility in Northampton in the UK have tested positive for COVID-19 following an outbreak of the virus at the plant.

Greencore, which is headquartered in Dublin, said staff are now self-isolating, although the facility remains open.

In total, 292 of the more than 2,000 workforce at Greencore’s Northampton sandwich manufacturing facility tested positive for the virus. Greencore is the largest sandwich manufacturer in the UK and Ireland, and makes pre-packed sandwiches for retailers such as Tesco and Marks & Spencer.

Testing

“As a result of the rising number of COVID-19 cases in the Northampton area, we took the decision to start proactively testing all of the colleagues at our Northampton site.

"We can confirm that a significant number of colleagues have tested positive for the virus and are now self-isolating,” Greencore said in a statement.

“In each case, we have immediately conducted contact tracing and instructed potentially affected colleagues to self-isolate.

"All of Greencore’s sites have wide-ranging social-distancing measures, stringent hygiene procedures and regular temperature checking in place, and we are doing everything that we can to keep our people safe,” it added.

Northampton Borough Council said there has been a high number of cases over the last four weeks in the area and it was appealing to residents and employees in the area to follow additional measures in order to avoid a local lockdown of the area or further government intervention.