All employees at Quebec pork slaughterhouse to be tested for COVID-19 after possible outbreak

Public health authorities in the Lower Saint Lawrence region are testing all the staff at a pork slaughterhouse after several positive cases of COVID-19 were reported.

The slaughterhouse in Saint-Alexandre-de-Kamouraska, owned by Aliments Asta, employs about 450 people.

A statement from the regional health authority for the Lower Saint Lawrence says the screening will be done at clinics in La Pocatière and Rivière-du-Loup. Testing began Friday and is expected to be completed by the end of Saturday.

All employees must self-isolate while awaiting their test results, as health authorities work to determine the scale of the outbreak.

The region reported 12 new COVID-19 cases on Saturday morning, for a total of 234 cases since the start of the pandemic. It is currently in the "yellow" stage of Quebec's alert system, which means the public is asked to be extra vigilant, but no new restrictions are in place.