UPDATE (23 May, 12.04am): A 3rd McDonald’s delivery rider, who’s employed at Pasir Ris Elias CC’s outlet, has tested positive for Covid-19, forming a new cluster among them.
The 24-year-old Malaysian is a household contact of the previous 2 cases.
He felt fatigued on 17 May, developed flu-like symptoms on 19 May, and was placed on a leave of absence by McDonald’s on 21 May. He tested positive on 21 May.
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During the ‘Circuit Breaker’ last year, 5 McDonald’s employees across 4 outlets came down with Covid-19.
That led to the fast-food chain closing all its outlets across Singapore for nearly 1 month, to the dismay of fans.
1 year later, 2 McDonald’s food delivery riders have tested positive for Covid-19.
Photo for illustration purposes only.
Source
This has led to 2 outlets in Pasir Ris and Bedok Reservoir closing till further notice – and we hope history won’t repeat itself.
On Friday (21 May), the Ministry of Health (MOH) reported 30 community cases of Covid-19, of which 8 were unlinked.
1 of the unlinked cases was a 27-year-old male Malaysian.
He works as a delivery rider for McDonald’s at Pasir Ris Elias Community Centre (CC).
He also works for food delivery vendor i-vic Logistics.
According to MOH, the man developed a fever and cough on 17 May.
However, he waited till 20 May before seeking medical treatment.
Both his antigen rapid test (ART) and Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) came back positive on that day.
He was deemed as Case 63534, a so-far-unlinked case.
The story didn’t end there, as the man’s household contact is also a delivery rider.
The 41-year-old male Malaysian works for McDonald’s at Bedok Reservoir, as well as i-vic Logistics.
He developed body aches on 18 May, but waited till 20 May to see a doctor.
Both his ART and PCR tests came back on the same day.
He was deemed as Case 63535, linked to his housemate.
Following the positive cases, McDonald’s in Elias CC has closed till further notice.
Senior Minister Teo Chee Hean, who’s MP of the area, said this in a Facebook post on Friday (21 May).
A sign on the outlet says it had closed since 20 May – the day both the riders tested positive.
The outlet and the CC have also been thoroughly deep cleaned, with self-disinfecting coating applied on all common surfaces.
Mr Teo said daily cleaning of Elias CC will be stepped up.
As there’s a vaccination centre at the CC, some may be worried that those who went there for their jab could be infected.
Mr Teo assured residents that the infected rider didn’t visit the vaccination centre during his infectious period. It’s thus still open to serve residents.
The McDonald’s outlet in Bedok Reservoir is also closed, reported The Straits Times (ST).
Both outlets were also deep cleaned on Thursday (20 May), McDonald’s told ST.
Staff who worked there will be swabbed and told to self-isolate.
MOH is also helping with contact tracing efforts.
Considering the 2 infected staff were delivery riders, we shudder to think that they may have been delivering food while infected.
If other McDonald’s staff are found to be infected too, a cluster may form and trigger the drastic measure of 2020 – an islandwide shutdown of the chain.
So we hope that nobody else will get infected as a result, or McDonald’s fans will be deprived once again.
MS News wishes the 2 infected delivery riders a quick recovery.
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Featured image adapted from Facebook and Facebook.
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