Having a significant number of workers sharing houses and travelling along the same public transport routes has “in some ways” made it easier to track and contain the spread of coronavirus linked to an Anglesey chicken plant, the health minister has suggested.

On Monday, Public Health Wales (PHW) confirmed that 17 more employees from the 2 Sisters chicken processing plant in Llangefni had tested positive for Covid-19, bringing the total to 175. The numbers have since risen again

With the possibility remaining that a “local lockdown” could be implemented on the island to prevent a surge in transmission, a spokesperson confirmed that they were aware a number of 2 Sisters migrant staff lived in houses of multiple occupation both on and off the island.

PHW said previous evidence showed that HMOs can often make it difficult to practice social distancing, and encouraged those living in them to be “particularly vigilant” about practicing hand hygiene and cleaning surfaces.

In response to a question from the Local Democracy Reporting Service during Tuesday’s daily briefing, health secretary Vaughan Gething suggested that such arrangements made it easier to track and trace potential contacts in order to trace the spread of the virus.

“In some ways, it makes it easier because its a workforce that broadly have social and community links outside the workforce and their travel routes into the plants mean their contacts are easier to identify,” he said.

Mr Gething confirmed that the majority of the 175 positive tests were staff members at the plant and there was “no evidence” of wider community transmission at this stage.

“The challenge though is that common travel and living in HMOs means they’re more susceptible to coronavirus spreading,” he said.

Paying tribute to contact tracing teams on Anglesey who have been following up potential contacts, Mr Gething added that support had also been provided by other teams based in Swansea Bay, Wrexham and Cardiff.

“This is a genuine national effort to recognise the importance of these outbreaks and I’m very proud of our contact tracing teams and how they’ve worked across the country to ensure that test, trace and protect works across Wales,” he said.

Acknowledging that the meat processing sector meant that operating margins can be “very tight”, Mr Gething added that many were employed on “fairly low pay” and that levels of statutory sick pay meant many people felt they had “no choice but to carry on working when they are ill”.

On the steps that will be taken before the plant is declared safe to reopen, he said that meetings would take place with the Health and Safety Executive and trade unions to establish employees’ views on what was taking place within both work and social environments prior to the expected two-week closure.

Mr Gething said: “I want reassurance over the measures that are being taken, not just around the outbreaks, but the broader issue of this sector in particular, which has higher risks than other forms of activity that are still taking place.”

A spokesperson for Arriva, which operates several bus services across Anglesey and Gwynedd, said:  “We are committed to the safety of our staff and our customers.

“This has always been our priority during the COVID19 crisis and continues to be our focus.

“We operate rigorous cleaning regimes on board our buses and at our depots, as well as providing our drivers with hand sanitiser, driver cabin screens & face masks to further protect both them and our customers from the spread of COVID19.

“Social distancing measures have been in place on board the Arriva Wales fleet for a significant period of time already, with clear guidance to customers shown on bus posters and vinyls.

“Arriva Wales staff and drivers are fully aware of the procedure for COVID19 testing and we continue to follow government guidance on this.”