Production restarts at Wrexham coronavirus vaccine plant after bomb disposal team attend incident

Production at a coronavirus vaccine factory in Wrexham has restarted after "a suspicious package" was delivered to the site.

The factory, which employs around 400 people, had to be evacuated while emergency services and a military bomb disposal team investigated.

North Wales Police confirmed that they received a call reporting the package at around 10:40 on Wednesday morning.

Officers attended and imposed a security cordon around the site, closing nearby roads to all traffic.

The police force said the army's Royal Logistics Corps had examined the package and will now take away its contents for analysis.

They added that some roads remain closed while police continue their investigation but "there are no wider concerns for public safety".

The Wrexham factory carries out the "fill and finish" stage of the manufacturing process for doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine.

A military bomb disposal vehicle appears to be in attendance. Credit: Ian Hunter

Vaccine production at the factory was temporarily paused while the investigation took place.

A spokesperson for Wockhardt, the pharmaceutical company which runs the Wrexham facility, said: "We can now confirm that the package was made safe and staff are now being allowed back into the facility.  "This temporary suspension of manufacturing has in no way affected our production schedule and we are grateful to the authorities and experts for their swift response and resolution of the incident."

A spokeswoman for the Ministry of Defence said an explosive ordnance disposal team based in Chester was called out just after 11:30am and was assisting at the scene. A Royal Logistics Corps

Police will now investigate the circumstances surrounding the incident.

First Minister Mark Drakeford tweeted to say Welsh Government is "working with local police and the military to find out more about this incident".

He thanked the security staff who are on-site to ensure the safety of the precious vaccine supply stored there.

Surrounding roads have been closed. Credit: Pauline Salisbury/Twitter

Last week, emergency teams were called out to protect supplies vaccine following flooding at the industrial estate.

All "necessary precautions" were taken to prevent disruption to the manufacture of the jab, a Wockhardt spokeswoman said at the time.