Germany issues travel alert after a huge spike in cases

The Western German state of North Rhine-Westphalia have issued a travel warning following a huge spike in coronavirus cases.

Over 1,500 workers at the German abattoir Tönnies in Gütersloh have tested positive for coronavirus out of 6,000 staff who work there.

Gütersloh is home to around 100,000 residents and the state has placed the town into lockdown.

Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz issued a travel warning over the area, he said, “Our neighbour Germany has shown with the region of North Rhine-Westphalia how quickly a dramatic situation can arise.

“We hope, of course, that the situation there will improve quickly and there is no further spread to all of Germany.”

Kurz said there will now be no direct flights between Austria and the state.

Epidemiologists said due to workers working closely in meat plants with low temperatures and a damp atmosphere these are factors that raises the risk of coronavirus spreading.

The German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s advisor Christian Drosten who is a virologist said, “In two months I think we’ll have a problem if we don’t switch on all the alarm sensors now.”

Germany’s health ministry, the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), has warned a second wave of the virus is possible and the country must stay vigilant over the coming weeks as coronavirus is still circulating.

The coronavirus R rate soared by 60% in just one day and the reproduction rate has hit 2.88 on Monday, from 1.79 on Sunday.

With the R rate being 2.88 this means that for every 100 people who come into contact with the virus, 288 people will most likely contract coronavirus.

RKI released the new R rate figures, and it is very likely there will be an increase amongst the German population.