29 staff at Surrey poultry plant test positive for COVID-19

VANCOUVER -- Fraser Health has declared a COVID-19 outbreak at a chicken processing plant in Surrey.

In a statement on Saturday, the health authority said that 29 staff at Sunrise Poultry Processors Ltd. had tested positive for the coronavirus, and that the plant would be temporarily shut down.

“Public Health has issued a closure order for 10 days effective May 7, 2021,” reads the Fraser Health advisory.

Surrey is a COVID-19 transmission hot spot. Fraser Health did not specify whether workers at the plant were among the many frontline workers who were offered priority vaccines.

The plant is located at 13542 73A Ave.

Fraser Health says it is monitoring the outbreak closely, and that “those identified as cases and close contacts have been instructed to self-isolate.”

Food from the factory is not being recalled as a result of the outbreak, says Fraser Health.

“According to Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA), there is no evidence to suggest that food is a likely source or route of transmission for the virus.”

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  This undated electron microscope image made available by the U.S. National Institutes of Health in February 2020 shows the Novel Coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. Also known as 2019-nCoV, the virus causes COVID-19. The sample was isolated from a patient in the U.S. (NIAID-RML via AP)