An employee at Hazeldene's Chicken Farm in Lockwood has tested positive to COVID-19.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
Hazeldene's confirmed part of its processing plant has been isolated, with other team members identified as close contacts of the confirmed case contacted, denied access to the site and undertaking testing.
The employee who tested positive was a contractor who travelled from Melbourne.
Hazeldene's said 20 contractor team members and 14 Hazeldene's employees are in isolation awaiting test results.
Hazeldene's chief executive Mark Heintz said the company had implemented strict protocols to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 between staff across all its central Victorian sites.
"We have been doing everything possible to ensure the health and safety of our team members and our communities in minimising the spread of COVID-19 while continuing to meet our supply obligations and will continue to do so," he said.
The company notified Worksafe and the Department of Health and Human Services after being made aware of the positive test.
Worksafe has been working with Hazeldene's to identify which areas of the site are affected and team members impacted in order to implement its COVID-19 contingency plan.
The first reported case of COVID-19 at Hazeldene's comes as Castlemaine's Don KR prepares to start some of its operations from Monday.
On Friday, Don said it had not had a positive COVID-19 case in five days.
More to come
