Coronavirus: McDonald’s closes after five staff test positive

Restaurant shuts doors following rise in infection rate in Sandwell area

A Mcdonald's branch in the West Midlands has closed after five employees tested positive for coronavirus (Google Maps)

A Mcdonald’s branch in the West Midlands has closed after five members of staff tested positive for coronavirus, following a surge of infections in the local area.

The restaurant in Great Bridge, Sandwell, said it shut its doors “as a precautionary measure” and it had been in contact with all employees and Public Health England.

The borough of Sandwell recorded an increased seven-day infection rate, with the rate in the week to 26 July standing at 32.4 cases per 100,000, up from 23.2.

106 new cases were recorded over that period, according to the most recent official health figures available.

Sandwell’s director of public health Lisa McNally urged business to inform the council if it had had two or more coronavirus cases in their workforce.

Dr McNally said earlier this week: “We need businesses to let us know if they have two or more cases of Covid-19 among their workforce.

“We can help to prevent a larger outbreak. If businesses delay in letting us know then outbreaks can become out of control and the business may need to close.”

A spokesperson for Mcdonald’s said: “We have proactively decided to temporarily close our Great Bridge restaurant as a precautionary measure following a rise of Covid-19 cases in the local area with five of our employees testing positive.

“We have been in contact with all the restaurant employees and also with Public Health England and the environmental health officer.

“As with all of the decisions we have made across this unprecedented period, the safety of our people and customers is our absolute priority and we will reopen as soon as we feel we can.”

Anyone visiting the affected branch, off the main Black Country Road, will be greeted with a sign saying the restaurant is “temporarily closed for maintenance”.

Mcdonald’s closed all of its restaurants nationwide on 23 March when the coronavirus lockdown was imposed and began reopening to walk-in customers on 17 June.