Berlin, February 13 Although the coronavirus epidemic in Germany has slowed down, slaughterhouses have been infected again in the country.
As of the 13th, 103 employees have been diagnosed with the novel coronavirus at a slaughterhouse in Husum, Shiho Prefecture, northern Germany.
Germany’s Federal Drug and Medical Device Administration (BfArM) said on the same day that it is expected to approve the launch of the first batch of tools for people to conduct rapid coronavirus testing at home in early March.
The number of newly confirmed cases of COVID-19 and the number of new deaths reported by the German disease control agency on the same day were 8,354 and 551 respectively.
According to the real-time data of Germany’s Time Online, as of about 22:00 local time on the 13th, Germany has confirmed a total of 2,337,905 people, cured 2111,393 and 65,466 deaths.
As of that day, Germany had vaccinated 3,967,246 doses of the coronavirus vaccine, of which 2,635,673 had been vaccinated with the first dose and 1,331,573 had received the second dose.
According to media reports such as the German news agency and North German Broadcasting, the cluster infection occurred at a slaughterhouse of a Danish enterprise in Husum.
The North Fries County government, where the slaughterhouse is located, said on the same day that as of the 13th, 103 employees of the company had been diagnosed with the novel coronavirus.
The remaining 190 employees tested negative. Among the confirmed patients, those infected with the mutant virus have not been detected.
Authorities have asked the slaughterhouse to be closed until February 24.
All staff members who tested positive and their close contacts were required to isolate at home.
A spokesman for the German Federal Drug and Medical Device Administration told German media on the same day that according to the product applications received by the agency so far, it is expected to issue a listing license for the first batch of coronavirus rapid self-service testing tools in early March.
It is reported that the agency has received applications for listing 30 fast self-service testing tools.
With these tools, people can complete the test in as soon as 15 minutes and can do it at home without the help of a professional.
German media quoted scientists as saying that if rapid detection methods can provide reliable results, it will be of great significance for Germany to return to normal social life.
However, German Health Minister Spahn expressed cautious optimism about the prospect of rapid self-service testing.
He cautioned that if the test method brings more “false negative” results, it will cause risks.
