A food firm in the Yorkshire Dales has announced nine of its workforce has tested positive for coronavirus.

Arla Foods, based in Settle, said it is taking steps to ensure the safety of its workers and contractors and is testing all colleagues at the site.

It continues to operate this week while results of the tests are known.

A spokesman for the company said: “With the UK lockdown further easing it is expected that confirmed cases will arise, but taking early precautionary steps will help us in our efforts to contain this.

“All of our sites have continued with production since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Our Settle site has reported nine confirmed cases in the last week, and whilst this is relatively low, given the close knit community at Settle, the contractors that have been visiting the site for essential work and the short timeframe in which the cases have been confirmed, we have decided to implement full site testing for our colleagues and all contractors.

“This decision has been made with the support of the local authority and Public Health England.”

The company added its colleagues had been exceptional in their efforts to comply with additional safety measures and precautions that have been introduced.

Social distancing continues at two metres wherever possible and hand washing and sanitising continues to be a priority Shared spaces such as the canteen and other communal areas have been restructured so that seating is socially distanced Shift patterns have changed so that colleagues always work with the same people on shift, reducing the number of people that may come into contact with each other Temperature checking is being done on arrival at site for everyone.

The spokesman added: “As well as working with Public Health England and North Yorkshire County Council, our own at-site tracing procedures are in place to ensure anyone who may have come into close contact with someone who has tested positive is informed and can be tested.

“The Settle site continues to operate this week while we wait for the results. However we have stopped all contractors attending the site with the exception of one group working outside on a project at a critical stage. They will not come into contact with our colleagues nor share facilities.

“No contractors will return to site until they have a negative test.”

Arla Foods says it is working closely with North Yorkshire County Council.