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WORLD NEWS Friday 19 June 2020
Official: German slaughterhouse virus outbreak untenable

By FRANK JORDANS through the air."
Associated Press Karl-Josef Laumann, the
BERLIN (AP) — Germany's health minister for North
agriculture minister said Rhine-Westphalia, said the
Thursday that conditions scale the outbreak at Toen-
at a slaughterhouse where nies was "intense," noting
hundreds of workers tested that about two-thirds of all
positive for COVID-19 were tests had come back posi-
untenable and backed an tive so far.
official investigation into "Of course I'm a bit wor-
the outbreak. ried about what will turn
Authorities in the western up when we test the other
region of Guetersloh said 6,000 in the next days," he
that 730 people at the said.
Toennies Group meatpack- Officials said a further 10
ing plant in Rheda-Wieden- people from southeastern
brueck had tested positive and Eastern Europe had
for the new coronavirus, also tested positive in Guet-
an increase of 73 since A member of the security walks in front of the Toennies meatpacking plant, Europe's biggest ersloh county, though they
Wednesday. slaughterhouse, in Rheda-Wiedenbrueck, Germany, Thursday, June 18, 2020. didn't work at the meat
"Hundreds of infections in Associated Press plant.
one plant. These conditions The region has asked the
aren't tenable," Agriculture United States. The United face "catastrophic working the currently required hy- German army to assist in
Minister Julia Kloeckner said Food and Commercial and living conditions." giene measures," said Isa- the mass testing of further
in a statement. She added Workers union said recently "This sick system needs to fi- bella Eckerle, who heads slaughterhouse workers.
it was right for officials in that at least 44 slaughter- nally end," Adjan said. "The the center for emerging vi- Meanwhile, dozens of par-
North Rhine-Westphalia house workers in the U.S. government's decision that ral diseases at the University ents protested the decision
state, where the plant is lo- have died from the virus includes a ban on con- of Geneva. to close schools and child
cated, to have launched and another 3,000 have tract work needs to be fully "In my view the large num- care centers in the county
a probe into the source of tested positive. implemented in the legisla- ber of (infected) employ- because of the outbreak.
the infections. Labor campaigners said the tive process." ees indicates an undetect- Germany's daily reported
Following a series of ear- outbreak at one of Germa- Toennies has said the out- ed 'super-spreading event' number of infections rose
lier coronavirus clusters ny's biggest slaughterhous- break could be linked to in the company that has back above 500 for the
at abattoirs, the German es, which employs about recent travel by workers, been going on for some first time in a week Thurs-
government pledged to 7,000 people, showed the especially from Eastern Eu- time," she said. day. While the figure didn't
crack down on the prac- need for change. rope, after borders started A spokesman for the com- yet include the cases from
tice of using subcontrac- "It's no coincidence that to reopen. pany, Andre Vielstaedte, Guetersloh, it did capture
tors, who often hire migrant the Toennies slaughter- But experts questioned said conditions in the ar- about 100 infections re-
workers and house them house has become the whether such a large out- eas where carcasses are ported from an apartment
in cramped accommoda- next hot spot of coronavirus break — resulting in more carved up could also building in the central Ger-
tion. But some lawmakers infections," said Freddy Ad- cases than the entire coun- have played a role, say- man city of Goettingen.
have warned of the risk that jan, the deputy chairman try normally reports in a ing temperatures are "5 to Germany has recorded al-
jobs might move abroad. of the NGG union that rep- day — could have been 12 degrees Celsius (41 to most 190,000 cases of CO-
Coronavirus outbreaks resents workers in the food caused by travel alone. 54 degrees Fahrenheit) in a VID-19 and 8,868 deaths
have also affected meat- and drinks industry. "The working conditions in humid atmosphere where since the outbreak began,
packing plants in other Adjan said workers em- slaughterhouses don't seem aerosols are formed and according to a tally by
countries, including in the ployed by subcontractors to be very compatible with the virus can then spread Johns Hopkins University.q
Canada to introduce virus tracing app in July

TORONTO (AP) — Canada tion services will be used," using technology supplied
is introducing a contact Trudeau said. by Apple and Google.
tracing smartphone app Governments around the Other European nations
that will notify Canadians world have been turning to such as Switzerland, Ger-
of exposure to the new smartphone technology to many and Italy, are using a
coronavirus. help battle fresh virus flare- "decentralized" approach
Prime Minister Justin ups as they ease lockdown based on the Apple-
Trudeau said Thursday the restrictions. But technical Google smartphone inter-
app will be voluntary and problems and privacy con- face, which experts say is
that if someone tests posi- cerns have dogged the better for privacy because
tive, other users who have development of virus trac- it keeps data on phones.
the app and have been in ing apps. "We drew lessons from what
proximity will then be alert- Health authorities in Brit- other people did around
ed they've been exposed ain announced Thursday the world," Trudeau said. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speaks during a news conference
on the COVID-19 pandemic outside his residence at Rideau
to someone who has test- they are scrapping plans to "This type of simple and Cottage in Ottawa, Thursday, June 18, 2020.
ed positive. Trudeau said launch their own coronavi- anonymous application, Associated Press
privacy will be respected. rus contact tracing smart- that is entirely voluntary,
"At no time will personal phone app because of will be extremely powerful Ontario will soon begin test- of Canadian technology
information be collected technical problems and will in terms of helping us to re- ing the app which is being companies Shopify and
or shared, and no loca- now work on building one open the economy safely." developed with the help BlackBerry. q