NI butcher store closes for deep clean after staff members test positive for Covid

In a post on social media, ‘Carnbrooke Butcher shop’ which is based at Ballynahinch Road in Lisburn said: “Customer Announcement

“Last night we were contacted by 3 members of staff who received positive test results for Coronavirus.

“We made the decision to not open our Lisburn Food Hall this morning and carry out a deep clean of the premises, fully investigate and contact all colleagues.”

The message adds: “The health and safety of both colleagues and customers is our top priority.

“As you are aware in visiting our Food Hall we implement strict cleaning processes with hourly touch point cleaning in all staff and customer areas, baskets and trolleys cleaned after every customer use alongside social distancing.

“If you have been in our Lisburn Food Hall and are concerned, please contact the NHS 111 helpline service.

“We will reopen today at 2pm and as always request all customers that can wear a face mask, social distance and sanitise when entering and exiting the Food Hall.

“We thank you for your understanding in these unprecedented times.

Carnbrooke”

The news comes as employers from key sectors within Northern Ireland can now access the national testing programme as part of a targeted expansion of asymptomatic testing

Launching the programme Health Minister Robin Swann said: “As COVID-19 infections continue to fall and the vaccination programme continues to deliver at scale and pace, it is important that we do not lose sight of the need to continue to control this virus.

“If we are to emerge from lockdown, we need to use every instrument at our disposal to identify and target outbreaks that may occur across different parts of our society. New testing technologies make it possible to test at greater scale, frequency and pace than has previously been possible.

“In the early stages of the pandemic, the severity of some outbreaks led to some workplaces being temporarily closed. The rollout of workplace testing will help to prevent this by identifying asymptomatic positive cases and interrupting transmission of the virus. This will benefit employers and society as a whole as it will help to keep infection rates down across Northern Ireland.”

________________________________________________________________________

A message from our editor: Thank you for reading this article. We’re more reliant on your support than ever as the shift in consumer habits brought about by Coronavirus impacts our advertisers.

Please consider purchasing a copy of the paper. You can also support trusted, fact-checked journalism by taking out a digital subscription of the News Letter.