JOIN USCoronavirus: McDonald's suspends operations in Singapore after seven employees test positive
Fast food giant McDonald's on Sunday suspended operations in Singapore till May 4 after seven of its employees were detected with coronavirus last week.
The suspension decision will include drive-through and delivery services. The American fast food chain had suspended its takeaway operations on Saturday, Channel News Asia reported.
In a release, McDonald's said it has been advised by the Ministry of Health that it should suspend restaurant operations, including delivery and drive-through, till May 4 as preventive action against COVID-19.
The circuit-breaker period ends on May 4 in the city-state. During this period heavy restrictions are placed against crowding and large gatherings. Last week, seven employees of McDonald's tested positive for coronavirus.
"These are indeed unprecedented times for all of us. We have done all we can to put in place every safety precautionary measure to keep our employees and customers safe – and will continue to do our part to flatten the curve," said managing director of McDonald's Singapore Kenneth Chan.
"We thank our customers for their continued support and look forward to serving them again on May 5," he added.
The company said it would continue to pay salaries of over 10,000 employees working across 135 outlets in the country.
The Singapore Health Ministry reported 942 new COVID-19 cases on Saturday, out of which 893 were work permit holders living in foreign worker dormitories, while another 27 were foreign workers living outside dormitories.
The Ministry of Manpower has announced that all work permit holders and S-Pass holders in the construction sector would be placed on mandatory stay-home notice.
The novel coronavirus, which originated in China's Wuhan city last December, has claimed over 160,000 lives and infected over 3.7 million people across the world so far. In Singapore, the virus has killed 11 people with nearly 6,000 infections.