Workers at the VW main plant in Wolfsburg (archive picture from restarting production at the end of April)
Photo: Swen Pfoertner / Pool via REUTERSWith voluntary corona tests, the car manufacturer Volkswagen wants to reduce the risk of a virus spreading for the workforce. In a total of ten containers at German locations, up to 2,400 tests per day should be possible, as the company announced. "At the end of the holiday season, the risk of spreading increases," said Human Resources Director Gunnar Kilian (45). However, since demand is picking up again at the same time, it is essential to avoid another shutdown at all costs.
So far, through containers have been installed in Wolfsburg, Braunschweig and Emden. Kassel, Salzgitter, Hanover and Saxony are to follow. The implementation is carried out in cooperation with the Wolfsburg Clinic, results of the samples should generally be available after 24 hours at the latest.
The federal and state health ministers only agreed on Monday to abolish the mandatory testing for returnees from risk areas, which was introduced two weeks ago. Despite problems with the incubation period, they consider the measure a success because hundreds of corona cases were discovered through it. But politicians fear that scarce laboratory capacities will be overloaded.
Volkswagen's CEO Herbert Diess (61) had recently shown confidence after the slump in sales and profits due to the Corona crisis in the first half of the year. "The recovery we are now feeling is very encouraging," he said in an interview in late July. "It will now be important that we don't get a second lockdown. Then it would be difficult."
ak / dpa-afx
