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Some 13 meat factory workers had to be retested following a lack of a laboratory result.
Information from a parliamentary question asked by Independent TD Denis Naughten show that 11 workers from one factory had to be retested due to a problem with their swabs on the way to the laboratory.
In his reply, which the Minister for Health Simon Harris referred to HSE programme manager Joan Gallagher, a further two workers were retested following an “invalid” test result – this meant that there was no reaction to the material sent.
“Arrangements for retesting were as follows: two staff were arranged to have antibody testing instead (a different test). The other 11 staff were retested (swabs),” the reply stated.
The average retest time took 16 days.
Testing
The HSE said last week that mass testing has taken place in eight factories. The Department of Health has confirmed there were 1,091 cases of COVID-19 in meat and poultry plants as of 8 June.
The figure marks the lowest weekly rise in meat factories in a number of weeks.
On 6 June, it said it had been advised that 88% of coronavirus cases in meat factories are “no longer infectious, as they are past the infectious period of 14 days".
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