Shortly before the decision to expire or extend the regional lockdown in two districts of North Rhine-Westphalia, there are bright spots in the region. However, the Gütersloh district, which was particularly badly affected by the corona outbreak at the meat processor Tönnies, is still too high with an important indicator in combating the pandemic – despite a further downward trend.
Therefore, an extension of the regional lockdown by a few days does not seem to be excluded for the district of Gütersloh. In the neighboring district of Warendorf, however, the so-called seven-day incidence has been well below the decisive mark of 50 for days, which plays a role in the discussion about protective measures and the federal states.
NRW Minister of Health Karl-Josef Laumann (CDU) said on Saturday that after evaluating expected thousands more test results, a decision should be made on the restrictions in the region. The decision must be made on Tuesday at the latest because the regional lockdown is limited to June 30.
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No evidence of a greater spread of corona in the population
The renewed restrictions came into force in the Gütersloh and Warendorf districts on Wednesday. Around 640,000 inhabitants are affected. Only two people or people from a family or household group may meet in the public space. A number of leisure activities are to be avoided. Museums, cinemas, gyms and indoor swimming pools must remain closed. Kindergartens too. Representatives of the circles spoke of a “lockdown light”, as shops and restaurants are likely to open further.
After the big outbreak of corona in a Tönnies meat factory in the district of Gütersloh, the authorities in NRW see no signs so far that the virus has spread to a large extent in the population.
The district of Warendorf has so far seen no signs of the virus spreading to the rest of the population after the outbreak at Tönnies, as District Administrator Olaf Gericke (CDU) said late Saturday evening. According to the district, only two of a total of 4,491 corona tests were positive, which were evaluated until Saturday afternoon in the test centers in Oelde and Ahlen as well as by doctors. Regardless of the voluntary series tests by the population, there were tests in nursing homes, with harvest helpers and in meat factories. “There are over 7,000 results of this – all were negative,” it said.
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Current RKI figures show a downward trend
In the Gütersloh district, the number of new infections per 100,000 inhabitants within the past seven days has been significantly above the 50 mark. This is evident from the figures published by the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) on Monday.
Accordingly, the downward trend in the so-called seven-day incidence continued after the very high values caused by the outbreak at meat processor Tönnies. According to the latest RKI data, there have been 112.6 such cases in the Gütersloh district within the past seven days after 132.9 on Sunday and 164.2 on Saturday. On Tuesday, this had been 270.2.
According to the RKI figures, the Gütersloh district remains the only district in Germany above the important mark of 50 new infections per 100,000 inhabitants within the past seven days.
In the Warendorf district, which also has many Tönnies employees, the key indicator for combating the pandemic had dropped below the important 50 mark in the past seven days at 47.9 new infections per 100,000 inhabitants in the past seven days. According to data from Monday, the value is currently 22.0 cases. (dpa)
