New COVID cases recorded in western Germany

More than 400 new cases of COVID-19 have been recorded among workers at a large meatpacking plant in western Germany, causing schools and day care centres in the district to be closed.

The new cluster centers on a slaughterhouse operated by the Toennies Group in Rheda-Wiedenbrueck, authorities in Guetersloh county said.

Company officials say it may have been linked to workers taking the opportunity to visit their families in eastern European countries as border controls were relaxed.

Authorities tested 1,050 people at the plant on Tuesday.

So far, 589 results are in and over 400 of them are positive, the local council said.

Officials ordered the closure of the slaughterhouse, as well as isolation and tests for everyone else who had worked at the Toennies site — putting about 7,000 people under quarantine.

News of the Guetersloh outbreak came as Chancellor Angela Merkel was meeting with Germany's 16 state governors to discuss the situation.