"Covid-19 outbreaks at Irish meat plants raise fears over worker safety", 1 May 2020

An outbreak of Covid-19 among workers in a meat factory in Tipperary has raised fears that the virus is spreading through abattoirs and meat-processing plants in Ireland...

...Michael Creed, Ireland’s agriculture minister, told MPs that he was aware of six meat-processing plants with two or more confirmed cases of Covid-19 among workers, although he did not name them...

...Workers at other meat plants, who spoke to the Guardian on condition of anonymity, said they were frightened of contracting the virus, and expressed deep concern that social distancing is not being enforced on some factory floors. One said that “people are on top of each other, it’s like a cattle mart”. A complaint made to a line manager was ignored, they say...

...There are more than 20,000 confirmed cases of Covid-19 in Ireland, according to the Health Protection Surveillance Centre, and 1,232 people diagnosed with the virus have died. The lockdown restrictions that were put in place to manage the spread of the virus are expected to remain for the coming weeks...