In a joint study of the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI), the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE), and the Heinrich-Pette-Institute, Leibniz Institute for Experimental Virology (HPI), the origins of the first SARS-CoV-2 outbreak in May 2020 at Tönnies in Rheda-Wiedenbrück, Germany's largest meat processing complex, were investigated. The study results have now been published on the preprint platform SSRN. A publication in a peer-reviewed journal will follow. Involved BRICS research group: Prof. Dr. Melanie Brinkmann, Virale Immunmodulation.