A second German district will go in lockdown again following a local coronavirus outbreak in a meat packaging plant.
With approximately 200,000 inhabitants, Warendorf borders the Gütersloh district, which was put in lockdown again earlier on Tuesday.
Both districts, located in the North Rhine-Westphalia state, asked their inhabitants to only have contact with people in their own household and maximum one person, until 30 June.
Cinemas, cafes and fitness centres are closing down. Going to a restaurant is still possible, but only with members of the same household. Schools and kindergartens had already closed in Gütersloh, and will close in Warendorf as well from Thursday, according to local media.
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The Gütersloh district was put in lockdown again on Tuesday morning after some 1,500 cases of the new coronavirus (Covid-19) were detected in a Tönnies meat processing factory.
The local lockdowns in Gütersloh and Warendorf are a preventive measure, meant to stop the coronavirus from spreading outside the group of workers and their families.
For the time being, Germany's R-number remains high at 2.76, even though it has dropped some from Sunday's 2.88, according to the Robert Koch Institut (RKI), which monitors the coronavirus figures in Germany.
The high number mainly is due to these local flare-ups. "A second wave is possible in Germany, but we are optimistic that it can be prevented," said Lothar Wieler of the Robert Koch Institute.
Maïthé Chini
The Brussels Times
