JBS SA's poultry factory employee is pictured after the company was hit by an outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Passo Fundo, state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, April 24, 2020. REUTERS/Diego Vara

SAO PAULO (Reuters) - Some 12 workers at a Brazilian chicken plant operated by JBS SA JBSS3.SA have contracted COVID-19, a source close to the company told Reuters on Friday on condition of anonymity.

The plant in the town of Passo Fundo, Rio Grande do Sul state, employs around 2,600 people, JBS said in a statement earlier in the day.

The company declined to discuss the number of people infected at that facility, which Brazil’s UOL website had pegged at 19.