Twelve McDonald’s restaurants in Victoria, Australia have been forced to shut down after an asymptomatic delivery driver with COVID-19 delivered to those locations.
McDonald’s Australia CEO Andrew Gregory said it’s “possible” more restaurants could close, but the fast food chain is currently deep cleaning each location it’s identified as being affected.
“We have identified all those restaurants,” Gregory told Channel Nine’s Today show.
“The chances of further infections – it is possible, but the actions we are taking are about making sure we minimise further infections.”
Employees who worked shifted during and after the deliveries have been told not to return to work for 14 days. The restaurants will eventually be reopened with replacement staff where possible.
“It is a difficult decision but it is the right one to make,” said Gregory in regards to the closures.
“As soon as we were aware, we worked with our franchisees to immediately close the restaurant. That’s the most important thing.”
As of Monday morning, Australia had 7056 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 99 deaths.
Victoria state health minister, Jenny Mikakos, said that it was “inevitable” that there will be more coronavirus outbreaks.
“It’s important that everyone understands this pandemic is not over,” Mikakos said during a televised briefing over the weekend. “It is important people take every possible precaution.”