Three who fled quarantine on UK farm found and self-isolating

Three people who fled quarantine at a Herefordshire farm at the centre of a Covid-19 outbreak have been found and are now self-isolating, health officials have said.

Police had been searching for the trio, one of whom had tested positive for coronavirus, since Monday. It had been announced the previous day that about 200 staff at the vegetable farm and packing business AS Green & Co had been ordered to isolate there.

On Tuesday evening, Public Health England said the three had been “reached through the agency who secured their employment and they have confirmed they are self-isolating”.

The workers were asked to remain at Rook Row Farm after more than 70 tested positive. There were complaints that dozens of staff had been asked to work through the pandemic without proper protective equipment and no social distancing.

Unions have said the epidemic has shone a light on conditions at the farm, which supplies some of the largest retailers in the UK, as well as other businesses they claim need to raise their standards.

“Coronavirus is lifting up a stone to reveal what’s underneath, as with Boohoo in Leicester, the meat processing companies, and now this farm,” said Bridget Henderson, a researcher at Unite. “All these structural issues have been going on for ages, but it takes a crisis like this to show the vulnerabilities.

“It is indicative of how precarious food supply is, should anything get knocked off track. Until employers, and ultimately the people at the top of the supply chain, like Boohoo in the textile industry or the supermarkets in this case, start to see the value of having unions involved, it is going to be very difficult to raise standards.”

Daniel Zeichner, the shadow agriculture minister, said: “Working conditions on many of our farms, particularly for migrant workers, are likely to leave people vulnerable. Too little of the value in the food-chain goes to primary producers, and supermarkets have huge power.”

A S Green and Co has not responded to a request for comment.