At least 50 employees of a slaughterhouse in Staden (Belgium) have tested positive for the coronavirus, the city mayor said on Thursday. More than 200 employees of the establishment's cutting room had been quarantined and tested on Wednesday.
"Of the 225 employees quarantined, 193 have been tested so far," said the mayor of the town. “The results of 164 are known and 50 are positive. "
Many cases in slaughterhouses
According to the elected official, it is "possible" that many of them live in France, the slaughterhouse of the Westvlees company being not far from the Franco-Belgian border. Of the 6 positive cases initially reported, two concerned cross-border workers from France. "There will be tests on a larger scale within" the slaughterhouse, which employs 850 people in total, he said.
Outbreaks of Covid-19 contamination have appeared for several months in slaughterhouses in Germany, France and the United States. Experts still have difficulty understanding the reasons for these contaminations, undoubtedly linked to overcrowding but perhaps also to cold and ventilation conditions.
In May, more than 90 cases were discovered in a slaughterhouse in Lower Saxony (Germany). Belgium, faced for three weeks with an increase in new infections, has recorded 71,158 cases and 9,859 deaths in total. It is one of the countries with the highest death toll relative to its population, with 85 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants.
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