Germany has announced on Tuesday for the first time a reconfinement local linked to the new coronavirus after the occurrence of an outbreak of contamination in a large slaughterhouse, where more than 1,500 cases of infections have been detected. “We’re going to reintroduce a containment in the whole of the canton of Gütersloh “, which has about 360 000 inhabitants in the western part of the country, said the press officer of the region, the Rhineland-of-North-Westphalia, Armin Laschet.
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This reconfinement, provided for in a first time until 30 June, will be translated by the strict limitation of contacts between people, the closure of bars, movie theaters, museums, the prohibition of recreational activities in closed spaces. The restaurants will remain open, but not welcome as customers of the same household, said Armin Laschet, a potential successor to Angela Merkel and candidate for the leadership of their party, the christian democratic Union (CDU) in December.
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“Improving testing”
These drastic measures, which involved ten days of the beginning of the school holidays in this area very populated and very industrialised, are intended “to calm down the situation” and “increased test” screening.
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Germany, so far relatively untouched by the virus to the difference of its european partners such as France, Italy or Spain, is in shock since the discovery of an outbreak of contamination important in what is billed as the largest slaughterhouse in Europe, Tönnies. It employs close to Gütersloh 6 700 people, many of them come from Bulgaria and Romania. On Monday evening, the local authorities have announced that 1 553 people were infected by the Covid-19 in the township. Some 7,000 people have been placed under quarantine, 21 hospitalized and 6 of them are in intensive care.
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