Corona eruption near Gütersloh: All schools, sealing, 657 Tönnies employees infected

In the case of Germany's largest meat processor Tönnies has given several hundred Corona infections. Therefore, the district of Gütersloh includes all schools and day care centers up to the summer holidays, to avoid the spread of the Virus in the population. Many infected Tönnies-Workers had school-age children. The centre of the outbreak Tönnies' in the circle of lying, the largest plant in Rheda is-Wiedenbrück. The district office has laid this on a temporary hold.

Jonas Jansen

economic correspondent in Düsseldorf.

After several positive to the Virus-tested employees for Tönnies, the circle was arranged on Tuesday for more 1050 Tests. In 983 Tests evaluated, there were 657 Neuinfizierte. The remaining results should be available in the coming days. "With further positive results are expected", - stated from the district of Gütersloh. All 6500 employees in the main plant to be tested also. The health Ministry announced that Minister Karl-Josef Laumann (CDU) will inform the health Committee in detail about the Corona jailbreak. Well 7000 people in the district of Gütersloh under quarantine.

"We can only apologize for the Situation," said a Tönnies-company spokesperson at a hastily convened press conference on Wednesday afternoon. "We will do everything for it, the Virus from the operation to find out and ensure that we are able to return to work."

Previously, only a few cases in Tönnies

the company's CEO, Clemens Tönnies, even the press conference stayed away. "It is not the company, it is about the people and the circle. We support the authority in its fullest extent all measures“, the meat entrepreneurs in a communication quote. In order to contain the Virus, should be provided to all the Infected and their contact persons in the already previously used for housing and accommodation under quarantine.

The Tönnies group is with a turnover of more than 7 billion euros last year, by far the largest meat processors in Germany. Alone in the Slaughterhouse in Rheda-Wiedenbrück are otherwise slaughtered every day over 30,000 pigs. The entire group of companies provides one-fifth of the meat products, the customers can find in the supermarket.

In may, it had been in many slaughterhouses in the state of Baden-Württemberg, North Rhine-Westphalia, lower Saxony and Schleswig-Holstein with high Numbers of infections. A battle operation of the company West meat in the Westphalian town of Coesfeld, was temporarily closed, the Ministry of health in NRW had all the 20,000 employees of slaughter factories test.

Favor-cooled rooms for the Transmission?

Tönnies had announced in may already, in the context of a hygiene concept in another test center in which employees, regardless of official instructions regular should be investigated. With over 13,000 Tests in the group of companies previously 128 cases were found.