Abattoir at centre of huge new outbreak

Germany is facing its largest outbreak of the coronavirus since lifting lockdown after hundreds of staff at its biggest slaughterhouse tested positive. The plant near the city of Gutersloh owned by the meatprocessing group Tunnies has been closed and 6000 workers have been put in quarantine. Of the 1050 tested on Tuesday, two thirds had contracted the virus. The case follows similar outbreaks at abattoirs in Germany and other countries and has fuelled fears that cold environments aid the spread of the virus. Professor Christian Drosten, a prominent virologist, said: ‘‘I’m increasingly asking myself whether these high-transmission activities in slaughterhouses aren’t showing something we usually commonly experience in winter: a temperature effect.’’ The outbreak has led to the closure of schools and kindergartens in Gutersloh and surrounding areas. The authorities have stopped short of a full lockdown. The authorities in Berlin reported a cluster of 70 infections in the district of Neukolln, and quarantined 370 households in seven apartment blocks. They said that they were checking whether the virus was spread by a priest. Martin Hikel, the district’s mayor, said the population was becoming less disciplined about social distancing and was under the impression the pandemic was over. He said that if necessary the police would be deployed to ensure that people remained at home. The government also extended a ban on large events until at least the end of October to try to avoid a new wave of infections. ‘‘The virus isn’t gone, we have contained it well,’’ Angela Merkel, the chancellor, told MPs. She warned that hotspots were emerging wherever people were close together.