The number of COVID-19 infections in Tonnies plant jumps to 657
The number of Tonnies' workers found infected with the novel coronavirus has jumped from 400 to 657, according to the sources inside the company and the local media. In total, 1,050 have been tests carried out in the last two days and 983 results have been released so far, with 657 employees found positive for COVID-19.
This is the largest breach in safety and hygiene reported so far in the EU and the company decided to shut down the processing unit (the largest owned by Tonnies) until further investigations are completed. Also, 7,000 people in Gutersloh, a town where most of the workers found positive are living, are under quarantine.
According to the company spokesman, Andre Vieldstadte, the outbreak must be recent, since another set o tests were conducted last month, resulting in only 128 positive cases in 13,000 persons tested.
In this sense, it is speculated whether the origin of the outbreak may be in a recent long weekend that hundreds of workers took advantage of to visit their families in Romania and Bulgaria, taking advantage of the lifting of restrictions on foreign travel decreed in Germany.
Official tests have also been carried out at other Tonnies Group locations in recent weeks, with no abnormal results. Therefore, production continues in accordance with applicable hygiene standards during the pandemic.
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