Coronavirus: the meat industry hit by an outbreak of new cases in Europe

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New cases of coronavirus have been detected in several slaughterhouses and meat and poultry processing plants in the United Kingdom, Germany and the Netherlands. They are in addition to infections already recorded in other slaughterhouses and food factories in France, the United States, Canada, Australia, Spain or Brazil. These sites would be places prone to contamination.

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Almost one hundred positive cases have been reported from two chicken cutting plants in Wales. The same is true for a meat processing site in the south of England and in a factory in the Netherlands. These establishments were closed for at least fourteen days.

Across the Rhine, 730 workers were tested in Tönnies, the largest slaughterhouse in Europe in Gütersloh, in western Germany.

A number of factors explain the contamination in these factories: workers do physical work indoors in a cold environment where the virus can thrive. They use karchers and saws which cause aerosols. They work close to each other, which makes social distancing difficult. There are also risks in the dressing rooms where employees are nearby without wearing masks.

Another reason: the precarious living conditions of workers from Europe, Romania or Bulgaria. According to a representative of the German Green Party, these workers come to work "  crammed into buses  " and share the same rooms. "  A contaminated person quickly infects everyone  ," alerted Anne Monima Spallek.  

► Read also: Coronavirus in Germany: increased contamination in slaughterhouses

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• Coronavirus
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