Investigations have began into links between the coronavirus outbreak at a Coupar Angus chicken factory and two other food processing plants in Tayside.
Contacts of the cluster at the 2 Sisters factory have been identified as having connections at two further units as both the First Minister and Coupar Angus businesses stressed the outbreak was a Tayside-wide issue.
There are now 68 cases in total linked to the 2 Sisters outbreak, involving 59 staff members and nine contacts.
At her daily briefing, Nicola Sturgeon said: “Two of these contacts have links to two other food processing factories in Tayside.
“The incident management team are now carrying out risk assessments at both of these sites.
“There is no evidence at this outbreak has spread to either factory at this stage but as you can imagine that is something that is being looked at very closely.”
She added that the Perthshire town hadn’t been forced into an Aberdeen-style lockdown because the Scottish Government was able to “target specific households with increased restrictions”.
The First Minister’s comments were welcomed by local businesses in Coupar Angus who fear their livelihoods will suffer due to the attention on the town.
Alan Bannerman, owner of the Red House Hotel in Coupar Angus, believes the focus should be on Tayside rather the small Perthshire town.
He told The Courier: “There’s about 900 people in that factory of which there might be 100 that stay in Coupar Angus.
“Of these 68 cases I would be interested to know how many is from Coupar Angus, I would bet that there’s not ten.
“I’ve got groups of golfers booked right up to October but and I’ve been fielding phonecalls about this.
“Wednesday and Thursday had a huge effect on the business at the hotel.
“My concern is that if we don’t get a hold of this quickly, I have 40 staff.
“Business has been really good after we started on July 15 and we need to get this dealt with and get people reassured.
“I’ve got people here that are delighted to be here and the hotel is safe as houses because we’re not serving anyone that should be isolating.”
Perth and Kinross Provost Dennis Melloy, who lives four miles from the site, has been liaising with the factory since March 30 over concerns workers were not adhering to guidelines.
After visits to the site from police he was given the “overall impression” that the company was trying to adhere to rules.
However since the outbreak he said members of the community had become “worried and concerned”.
The Provost told the Courier: “Workers come from all over and are not confined to Coupar Angus.
“Coupar Angus residents are extremely concerned as are other close neighbouring communities who are watching the situation.
“The Coupar Angus community continue to work well with each other and have a strong community spirit, which us what is needed in these difficult times.”
