New coronavirus outbreak in Leicester as 28 Walkers Crisps factory workers test positive

WALKERS CRISPS has today confirmed 28 positive coronavirus cases in its factory in Leicester.

The firm, which employs 1,400 people across the site, said it had seen a "steady increase" in cases during June.

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It claimed that its track and trace procedure indicates the transmission of the killer bug was "not in our factory".

Walkers Crisps claims the rise in cases "coincides with the roll-out and uptake of testing" in the city.

A spokesperson said: "We have shared our data and analysis with the health authorities and they support the view that our situation reflects transmission in the community and we do not have a transmission issue on site.

"In light of the recent increase in cases in Leicester, we have been proactively reinforcing the importance of continued vigilance on site."

The firm added that employees who are suspected to have the virus or have tested positive for Covid-19 were self-isolating on full pay.

The factory is in the Beaumont Leys area of the city, which is the current lockdown area.

Samworth Brothers and Pladis, which make biscuits for McVities, have also confirmed cases of infection at its food processing plants in Leicester.

On Monday night, Leicester became the first UK city to go back into lockdown.

 said there have been 944 confirmed cases of coronavirus in the past two weeks.

The council's figures include those who tested positive in hospital and wider settings such as testing centres.

Public Health England identified 2,987 cases, accounting for ten per cent of all cases in the UK.

Speaking at PMQS today, Boris Johnson claimed the city had "particular" problems after being challenged by the Labour leader on how the outbreak happened.

He said: “For reasons that I think the House will probably understand, there were particular problems in Leicester in implementing the advice and getting people to understand what was necessary to do.

“But let’s face it, we’ve had to act, the government has acted.

“And he wants to know whether we’ll act in future to ensure we protect the health of the entire country - and I can tell him that we will, absolutely.”

Councils have blasted the Government for not sharing the right data with them so they can monitor outbreaks.

But today No10 insisted they have had access to most data.

However, the local postcode data was only revealed to authorities last week.