German slaughterhouse COVID-19 outbreak tops 1,000 cases

Berlin, June 21 (IANS) The total number of people infected with the coronavirus due to a fresh outbreak at a slaughterhouse in Germany has risen to 1,029, according to officials.

The outbreak at the Rheda-Wiedenbr�ck meat processing plant, in the district of G�tersloh, near Bielefeld, was made public on June 17, a report by the German broadcaster Deutsche Welle said on Saturday.

The plant is run by T�nnies - the largest meat processing firm in Germany.

The factory has been closed for 14 days following initial reports of the outbreak, said the head of the crisis team Thomas Kuhlbusch.

Regional official Sven-Georg Adenauer told a the media on Saturday that there had been no "significant introduction of coronavirus" into the community.

A quarantine has been ordered for all 6,500 staff - most of them from Romania and Bulgaria who lived in cramped company-provided accommodation.

More than 3,000 workers have been tested so far.

A mass screening for COVID-19 went ahead at the site on Saturday, according to the Deutsche Welle report.

Meanwhile, About 60 people gathered outside the T�nnies factory on Saturday to protest against the consumption of meat and against the unsafe conditions they say workers are forced into.

AS of sunday, the total number of COVID-19 cases in Germany stood at 190,670, while the death toll increased to 8,895.