A third meat processing plant in Wales has cases of Covid-19 among it workers.

Wales' health minister said there had been 34 cases associated with Kepak in Merthyr Tydfil since April, with eight new cases since the start of June.

There are also 175 cases connected to the 2 Sisters plant on Anglesey and 70 at the Rowan Foods outbreak in Wrexham.

Meanwhile, a union official has written to Rowan Foods to express "extremely worrying and developing issues" at the plant, which the company has denied.

In a letter seen by BBC Wales, Unite regional officer David Griffiths says one of the workers who tested positive for Covid-19 returned to work after isolating for six days.

People who have tested positive must self-isolate for at least seven days from when their symptoms began.

'Astonished'

He writes: "The reason for my letter/email is to raise specific and extremely worrying and developing issues at the Wrexham site.

"We have had many members contacting us in relation to the ongoing situation of colleagues being tested as Covid-19 positive that were in work immediately before their positive tests."

He added he had been told a manager "returned within six days of a positive Covid-19 test".

"This being a food manufacturer I am astonished at this happening," he wrote.

He said after two managers tested positive "no care or consideration" was made to workers who came into contact with those infected.

A spokesman for the company said: "The factory operated successfully and safely for three months without a single positive case of Covid-19 recorded (March-May end).

"In terms of returning to work too early, this is also demonstrably untrue. The opposite was in fact the case. The numbers of people off work speak for themselves.

"Managers told as many people as they could to self-isolate even if there was barely any contact - for super safety."

'No evidence of wider community transmission'

Coronavirus regulations in Wales state workplaces must take "all reasonable measures to ensure that a distance of two metres is maintained between person on the premises and waiting to enter the premises".

Earlier on Tuesday, Health Minister Vaughan Gething said there was no evidence of wider community transmission following outbreaks at 2 Sisters and Rowan Foods and he did not see a need for local lockdowns in response.

Cases of coronavirus have generally fallen across Wales, Mr Gething said, with fewer than 100 cases each day in the first few weeks of June.

There was an increase over the weekend, which was probably related to the outbreaks, he added.

Sector 'generally good' at complying with Covid rules

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The health minister said outbreaks in meat and food processing plants had been a feature of the pandemic around the world and food producers had been "generally good" at complying with Covid-19 workplace regulations.

However, he said: "We also know in the meat processing sector, operating margins can be very tight, many people are employed on fairly low pay and levels of statutory sick pay mean many people feel they have no choice but to carry on working when they are ill."

The minister said the government would look at the sector "within a very quick period of time" to understand if officials needed to do more.

A fresh lockdown has been ordered in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia after a coronavirus outbreak linked to a meatpacking plant there.

The Food Standards Agency said it was "very unlikely you can catch coronavirus from food" as the virus is a respiratory illness.

Dr Graham Brown, consultant in communicable disease control for Public Health Wales, said at Rowan Foods the "testing process is ongoing" and additional cases have been found.

"This does not mean that the company has been identified as the source of the infection, or that finding additional cases means the infection is increasing.

"However, we are identifying previously asymptomatic individuals that work for Rowan Foods Ltd with the infection."