Tönnies Holding shut down production at the plant it runs where the latest German outbreak took place.
Photo: David Inderlied/DPA/Associated PressBERLIN—Germany has recorded its largest local Covid-19 outbreak since it started reopening its economy in early May, with more than 600 employees of a slaughterhouse testing positive for coronavirus this week, authorities said on Wednesday.
The announcement highlighted the risk of a new spike in infections even as the pace of the coronavirus pandemic is slowing across Europe.
The outbreak was by far the largest in a string of similar so-called superspreading events at meat-processing plants across the country. New infections in Germany have fallen to around 300 a day in recent weeks.
The local government in the Western state of North-Rhine Westphalia where the plant is located ordered all schools and kindergartens to close and warned residents to limit their movements.
Meat processing plants have proven particularly susceptible to Covid-19 outbreaks. Employees are often migrant workers who work in close proximity and live in communal accommodations, which scientists say contributes to spreading the virus.
Tönnies Holding is one of the largest meat suppliers to Europe’s largest economy.
Photo: sascha steinbach/EPA/ShutterstockIn the U.S., meatpacking plants largely resumed operations in May after a series of closures in April due to Covid-19 outbreaks among employees that sickened thousands and killed dozens. President Trump in late April issued an executive order that let meatpackers continue operating plants at the discretion of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, shielding them from state or local calls to temporarily close facilities.
The pandemic continues to close some U.S. meat plants, as Covid-19 infections keep some workers home sick, others stay home for fear of catching it and companies perform deep cleaning in plants.
Last month, the German government imposed a ban on meat-processing companies employing staff through subcontractors, established tougher inspection regimes for plants and set higher fines for breaches of hygiene rules.
Tönnies Holding shut down production at the plant it runs where the latest German outbreak took place. The plant employs around 7,000 people, most of whom are now in quarantine, the company said. Tönnies Holding is one of the largest meat suppliers to Europe’s largest economy, and accounts for nearly 20% of meat products on the German market, the local government said.
Most of the workers at the Tönnies Holding plant are immigrant workers from Eastern European countries, many of whom live near the plant in dormitories, according to the company.
Gereon Schulze Althoff, head of quality management at Tönnies Holding, apologized to the public at a news conference on Wednesday.
Cooled processing plants are at higher risk, said Gereon Schulze Althoff, head of quality management at Tönnies Holding, seen above in May.
Photo: David Inderlied/DPA/Zuma PressMr. Schulze Althoff said that many of the workers had recently visited their home countries after 10 weeks of lockdown, adding that some of them might have contracted the virus on their travels. He also said that cooled processing plants were at higher risk, pointing to growing scientific evidence that low temperatures facilitate the spread of the virus.
“This can happen again, here, in other companies like ours, and then everywhere when the weather gets colder,” Mr. Schulze Althoff said.
Sven-Georg Adenauer, the chief executive of the county of Gütersloh where the plant is located, said that he hoped it wouldn’t be necessary to return to a state of full lockdown.
“This clearly shows the virus is still here, it is an invisible enemy that can attack again at any time,” Mr. Adenauer said.
The epidemic has slowed dramatically in Germany, with most new cases now attributable to smaller superspreading events linked to religious services or social gatherings.
Berlin authorities ordered 400 households to quarantine this week following a localized outbreak in an apartment building, with 70 confirmed infections so far.
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—Jesse Newman in Chicago contributed to this article.
Write to Bojan Pancevski at bojan.pancevski@wsj.com
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