Germany put 500,000 people back under lockdown after a spike in coronavirus cases

• Germany has reimposed lockdown restrictions on two districts, affecting more than 500,000 people, according to the BBC.
• Coronavirus cases have spiked in Gütersloh and Warendorf, including at a meatpacking plant where more than 1,500 employees have tested positive.
• People in those districts can now only meet one other person in public, and schools and cultural venues are all due to close.
• Germany's R0 number skyrocketed to 2.88 over the weekend, according to The Local.

More than 500,000 people in Germany are back under coronavirus lockdown after cases spiked in two districts of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, according to the BBC.

The new lockdowns were announced within hours of each other after new cases were found in Gütersloh and Warendorf.

The outbreak in Gütersloh is connected to the Tönnies meatpacking plant where more than 1,500 workers tested positive.

The state's Minister President Armin Laschet described it as the biggest infection incident in the country. New cases also appeared in Warendorf.

People in the two districts can now meet only one other person from outside their household, in a public place, according to the BBC.

Museums, bars, cinemas and gyms have also been closed. Gütersloh has already closed schools and kindergartens, while Warendorf plans to do so on Thursday, the network said.

All employees of the Tönnies plant — many of whom are migrants — are under quarantine. Metal fencing has been erected around some of the workers' residential buildings, the BBC reported.

There have also been new outbreaks in Berlin and Göttingen, according to Bloomberg.

The country's R0 number reached 2.88 on Sunday, according to the German edition of The Local. This means that for every person infected, another 2.88 people on average are expected to get infected too. Any number much higher than 1 will eventually lead to an exponential rise.

Lockdowns in Germany were gradually lifted from the end of April, with the country garnering international admiration for its handling of the crisis. Chancellor Angela Merkel warned that she was prepared to impose an "emergency brake" and add new lockdowns if cases increased dangerously.

New reported cases had dipped to as low as below 100 in early June, but started to creep back up. On Tuesday, 712 new cases were reported.