Warrnambool's Midfield Meat is on the verge of shutting its doors completely for six weeks because of the government-imposed coronavirus restrictions on abattoirs, it has been revealed.
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The move would put 1000 people out of work and take $10 million worth of wages out of the Warrnambool economy.
General manager Dean McKenna said management had been in discussions with various government departments over the past few days.
"Under the guidelines put in place by the Andrews Government today it looks like Midfield will close down for six weeks," Mr McKenna said.
"The full shut down would see about 1000 Warrnambool people out of work for six weeks.
"The impact it would have on the local economy would be massive as it relates to around $10 million in wages."
Premier Daniel Andrews announced this week that under new COVID-19 rules, the city's largest employer would have to cut its operations by a third from Thursday as stage 3 lockdowns came into force in regional Victoria.
Melbourne also moved to stage 4 as the number of coronavirus cases continued to climb.
The measure - that was placed on all of the state's abattoirs - was described as "disastrous" and would have meant cutting 340 jobs at Midfield Meat.
The blow to the company's operations comes after it tested its entire workforce last month to ensure all workers were COVID-19 free.
Despite all workers testing negative after an infected inspector had visited the site, the abattoir was still being forced by the government to scale back.
The company has revealed it was now considering a total shutdown for six weeks - a move that would be felt for longer than that.
Mr McKenna said it would be virtually impossible for the abattoirs to open in the same format as it was now after six weeks as it would lose a lot of workers.
"We've got our fingers crossed that we can find a resolution to this massive problem for our region on Friday, Saturday or Sunday at the very latest," he said.
The Premier on Thursday warned Victorians against panic buying meat as the state's abattoirs cut their operations by a third.
Victoria recorded 471 cases of coronavirus yesterday bring the state's total number of cases since the beginning of the pandemic to 13,469.
Mr Andrews announced that eight more people had died overnight, bringing the state's total to 170.
There are 7449 active cases across Victoria.
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