Hundreds of employees at a huge chicken factory have been forced into self-isolation after 75 staff members tested positive.
There are fears Norfolk will be plunged back into lockdown as Banham Poultry suffers the outbreak - and tomorrow it will be the subject of a central government review.
The cutting room at the factory in the village of Attleborough will close tomorrow morning as the factory voluntarily agrees to shut it and advise 350 staff members to go into isolation.
There are fears in Norfolk that the workers could have spread the virus across the county, with the majority of staff members living in the districts of Breckland, Great Yarmouth and the county's capital city of Norwich.
Banham Poultry employs 1,100 staff.
The first case of the virus among staff was known of last Friday, when one worker reported feeling sick. By Monday, seven out of 15 tested were found to have the virus - four were asymptomatic.
One member of staff is in the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital, and their current condition is unclear.
But officials moved to reassure the public that it is believed that any potential geographical spread outside of the factory is low.
Dr Louise Smith, director of Public Health England in Norfolk, told the EDP she was ruling out an immediate local lockdown.
She said: “At this point what we are doing is a very specific localised lockdown to a very specific setting, the who work there and their households.
"We do not anticipate the need for a geographical or town-based lockdown at this stage and we would only move to that kind of measure if we were getting evidence of spread in the general public that could not be linked to a specific location, such as this outbreak.
“We are not at that level at this stage and the background level of infection in Norfolk outside of this outbreak is low.”
Dr smith told the BBC that this was "now being regarded as a significant national outbreak".
The Government could decide to overrule local chiefs and shut the factory completely.
The cutting room floor - where staff butcher chickens into cuts of meat - is where the vast majority of cases were discovered and the rest of the factory remains open.
Norfolk County Council is understood to be considering whether they need to speak with other meat factories in the county - with the the east of England processing 7% of the country's poultry.
They reassured the public that the risk of the virus spreading through food packaging is very low.
Mid-Norfolk MP George Freeman urged people not to panic, and claimed Norfolk's public health teams had handled the pandemic better than in other areas.
But he asked people to remain vigilant as cooler weather was on the horizon and workplaces with higher densities of staff remained open.
Mayor of Attleborough, Philip Leslie, told the EDP he expected to see coronavirus cases in the area increase, and admitted eyebrows would be raised in the community.
He warned people to keep following government health advice in their own homes, and claims some had become "lax" at following the guidelines.
In a statement to the EDP yesterday, Banham Poultry's managing director Blaine van Rensburg said the management team was working to prevent any further spread.
"The safety of our staff, customers and the wider public is really important to us and we are working with public health authorities to make sure we are doing absolutely everything we can and following all of the correct procedures," he said.
"The business remains open and operating and we are doing everything we can to prevent the further spread of the virus.
“We have already invested in a range of procedures and protective equipment to keep our staff as safe as possible.”
The source of the outbreak is not yet known.
Staff members who live in houses of multiple occupation are being advised on how to isolate safely.
Norfolk health chiefs are taking advice from Lincolnshire, Northamptonshire and Herefordshire.
Virology expert Lawrence Young appeared on Good Morning Britain in June and explained why meat factories are breeding grounds for viruses like Covid-19.
He told Good Morning Britain hosts Ben Shephard and Susanna Reid: "Well the virus likes the cold, it's highly transmissible, and indoor areas that are cold with poor ventilation will provide a perfect environment for the virus to linger and spread.
"So infected individuals who are coughing out or speaking out the virus find that the virus will linger for longer, and stay viable and settle and spread more on surfaces.
"All of this is compounded in busy work places by poor ventilation."
On why meat processing plants appear to be so impacted, with such a spike in cases, Lawrence said: "I suspect the problem there is the need for containment of refrigeration, busy production lines and I guess in those environments it might be more challenging in terms of social distancing.
"Issues associated with busy machinery and shouting and speaking loudly over machinery will also produce more infectious droplets.
"So I think it's a combination of a number of different factors, certainly compounded by the fact that the virus as Dr Hilary keeps telling us is highly transmissible, and it likes the cold."
On whether consumers are likely to be infected from the meat, he went on: "I don't think there is any risk of consumption when meat is cooked.
"This is a very fragile virus at some levels, it's got this fatty coat around it and that fatty coat doesn't like the heat, because as that fat becomes more fluid the virus becomes less infectious.
"But it loves the cold because then that can solidate the virus, and it becomes more stable."
He added: "I think it can settle on surfaces, we know this type of virus like other respiratory viruses, can be picked up from surfaces, but I think that anything to do with meat and the production of meat, and the processing and cooking of meat would absolutely destroy the virus.
"You wouldn't be able to get infected from the virus in that way."
Union reps last month told Mirror Online that meat packing workers are going in sick and even failing to get coronavirus tests because they fear isolation will hurl them into poverty.
Officials raised the alarm after a string of food processing plants were hit by outbreaks of deadly Covid-19.
By June 25, four food factories had reported more than 450 workers between them testing positive with the virus.
But unions fear the full total across England and Wales could be far higher.
In a meeting between unions and Labour, attended by the Mirror, reps said some low-wage food workers cannot afford to isolate on £95.85-a-week Statutory Sick Pay.
Unite regional officer Brian Troake said “people simply cannot afford to have the time off”.
He claimed some workers do not want to be tested “because when they’re tested, they can’t earn any money.”
He added: “We’ve got thermal CCTV cameras now on the entrance to the sites.
“And even when the alarms are going off, you’ve got a manager stood there saying ‘don’t worry about that, keep on going.’ They need you in the factory. Because they need to make the numbers.”
Asked if he had heard of similar cases, Eamon O'Hearn, National Officer at GMB, said a survey of the union’s food and drink members found 70% could not afford to stay away from work.
He added the “response rate fell through the floor” when the same people were then asked if they’d keep going to work, even if they had symptoms.
The British Meat Processors Association has disputed Unite’s claims that workers are exploited or on precarious contracts.
The industry body insisted its members pay a “fair wage” and branded Unite’s claims ”false and misleading”, adding there have been 10 outbreaks in food plants so far.