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Germany’s largest slaughterhouse reopens — under stricter conditions

After a four-week mandatory break due to a coronavirus outbreak, Germany's largest slaughterhouse, Tönnies, has restarted its production.

Published: 16 July 2020 17:07 CEST

Germany's largest slaughterhouse reopens — under stricter conditions

Police outside Tönnies factory on Thursday where a Greenpeace demonstration took place. Photo: DPA

North Rhine-Westphalian Health Minister Karl-Josef Laumann, of Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU), said during a TV interview on Thursday that stricter official inspections would take place on a regular basis.

“Tönnies will work completely differently than before”, he said.

Among other things, the factory's 6,500 employees will be be regularly tested for coronavirus.

READ ALSO: Coronavirus: German politician floats prison sentence for billionaire slaughterhouse boss

Appraisers to inspect the workplaces

After around 1,400 Tönnies employees became infected with the coronavirus in mid-June, production was halted by authorities in the Gütersloh district.

The factory's workers were ordered into quarantine and the districts of Gütersloh and Warendorf were ordered into lockdown – a restriction which has now been lifted.

Going forward, according to the city of Rheda-Wiedenbrück, a permit for meat processing will only be reissued after another examination this week.

READ ALSO: What you need to know about Germany's new local coronavirus lockdowns

Among other things, experts are also to inspect the Plexiglas panes that separate the workers during the heavy physical work.

Relief and protests

Tönnies slaughters between 20,000 and 25,000 pigs per day in normal operation at its headquarters. A total of 30,000 are officially permitted.

Laumann, however, said that this number would only remain if the company could guarantee better health protection for employees.

The temporary halt in production led to complaints from breeders about overcrowded stables.

Yet not everyone was happy that the factory was back in operation. Greenpeace activists gathered outside of the factory Thursday to protest mass meat production and the deplorable conditions they say result to both people and animals as a result of it.

Although the plant was opening, slaughtering of animals was not due to take place yet.

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Could there be a new wave of Covid-19 in Germany this autumn?

More people donning face masks in supermarkets, friends cancelling plans last minute due to getting sick with Covid-19. We might have seen some of those familiar reminders recently that the coronavirus is still around, but could there really be a resurgence of the virus like we experienced during the pandemic years?

According to virologists, the answer seems to be ‘maybe’: since July, the number of people newly infected with Covid-19 has been slowly rising from a very low level.

According to the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), nine people per 100,000 inhabitants became newly infected in Germany last week. A year ago, there were only around 270 reported cases.

Various Corona variants are currently on the loose in the country. According to the RKI, the EG.5 (also called Eris) and XBB.1.16 lines were each detected in the week ending September 3rd with a share of just under 23 percent.

The highly mutated variant BA.2.86 (Pirola), which is currently under observation by the World Health Organisation (WHO), also arrived in the country this week, according to RKI.

High number of unreported case

The RKI epidemiologists also warned about a high number of unreported cases since hardly any testing is done. They pointed out that almost half of all registered sewage treatment plants report an increasing viral load in wastewater tests.

The number of hospital admissions has also increased slightly, but are still a far cry from the occupation rate amid the pandemic. Last week it was two per 100,000 inhabitants. In the intensive care units, only 1.2 percent of all beds are occupied by Covid-19 patients.

Still, a good three-quarters (76.4 percent) of people in Germany have been vaccinated at least twice and thus have basic immunity, reported RKI.

Since Monday, doctors’ offices have been vaccinating with the adapted vaccine from Biontech/Pfizer, available to anyone over 12 years old, with a vaccine for small children set to be released the following week and one for those between 5 and 11 to come out October 2nd.

But Health Minister Karl Lauterbach has so far only recommended that people over 60 and those with pre-existing conditions get vaccinated.

READ ALSO: EXPLAINED: Who should get a Covid jab this autumn in Germany?

“The pandemic is over, the virus remains,” he said. “We cannot predict the course of coming waves of corona, but it is clear that older people and people with pre-existing conditions remain at higher risk of becoming severely ill from Covid-19”

The RKI also recommended that people with a cold voluntarily wear a mask. Anyone exhibiting cough, cold, sore throat or other symptoms of a respiratory illness should voluntarily stay at home for three to five days and take regular corona self-tests.

However, further measures such as contact restrictions are not necessary, he said.

One of many diseases

As of this autumn, Covid-19 could be one of many respiratory diseases. As with influenza, there are no longer absolute infection figures for coronavirus.

Saarbrücken pharmacist Thorsten Lehr told German broadcaster ZDF that self-protection through vaccinations, wearing a mask and getting tested when symptoms appear are prerequisites for surviving the Covid autumn well.

Only a new, more aggressive mutation could completely turn the game around, he added.

On April 7th of this year, Germany removed the last of its over two-year long coronavirus restrictions, including mask-wearing in some public places.

READ ALSO: German doctors recommend Covid-19 self-tests amid new variant

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