McDonald's Singapore Closes All Outlets Due To COVID-19

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JAKARTA - McDonald's Singapore closed its outlets from Sunday 19 April until the end of the period of handling the corona virus or COVID-19 there. This follows up on the findings of several fast food restaurant employees who tested positive for the corona at the beginning of last month.

This decision took effect from 11 o'clock last Sunday. McDonald's outlets were completely closed, and the drive-through and delivery services were no exception. The move comes a day after fast food restaurants announced it is temporarily suspending takeaways services.

"McDonald's Singapore announced that it has been advised by the Ministry of Health that as a precautionary measure against COVID-19 in Singapore, we will suspend operations of restaurants including McDelivery and Drive-Thru until May 4," the release reads.

Meanwhile, managing director of McDonald's Singapore Kenneth Chan said they made this decision in order to "flatten the curve" in the number of cases of COVID-19 sufferers. "We have done everything we can to take measures to keep our employees and customers safe and continue to do our part to smooth the curve," Chan was quoted as saying by Channel News Asia.

McDonald's Singapore employs more than 10,000 employees and operates more than 135 restaurants across the Lion country. Even though all outlets were closed, the company said it would continue to pay employee salaries.

Earlier this month, five McDonald's employees were infected with COVID-19. Among them worked at Lido outlets, Forum Galleria, Parklane and Geylang East Central. Currently, it is reported that the number infected has increased by 2 people, bringing the total to 7 people.

Those infected have been closed for 14 days. Meanwhile, all employees who work there will be closely monitored for their health conditions, whether they have been in contact with infected or non-infected people.

Until this news was typed in Singapore, there were 6,588 cases of people infected with COVID-19. Meanwhile, there were 11 people who died, while 768 people recovered.