West Midlands McDonald's Closes After Five Staff Test Positive For Coronavirus

A McDonald's restaurant in the West Midlands has been forced to close down after five members of staff tested positive for coronavirus.

The area in which the restaurant is situated, Great Bridge in Sandwell, is thought to be at risk of a local lockdown, with one health official claiming the borough is 'halfway' to stricter measures being introduced.

Ninety people have tested positive in the area within the past week, and the local authorities have set up their own contact tracing team to attempt to stem the tide.

Dr Lisa McNally, Sandwell's director of public health, told The Sun: "We have had 90 cases in the last week - that's approaching ten times the rate we saw in June, when rates were very low.

"If it continues to rise at that rate over the next two to three weeks, we will be looking at a full lockdown.

"It is the Government that decides we have reached a level that requires a local lockdown - and rates would have to go higher, but not much higher.

"It's a serious situation."

The death toll in the UK rose by 83 yesterday, and now stands at 45,961 deaths from Covid-19 in hospital. The number of new cases rose by 763.

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 re-open as soon as we feel we can."

The North West of England is currently the area with the highest rate of infection, with 626.5 cases per 100,000 people in the population.

Blackburn, Oldham, Rochdale, Trafford and Manchester are all among the top ten places with the highest rates of infection, with Blackburn recording 85.9 cases per 100,000 people in the past week.

Featured Image Credit: SnapperSK

Topics: Food, UK News, Food And Drink, McDonald's

Tom Wood

Tom Wood is a LADbible journalist and Twin Peaks enthusiast. Despite having a career in football cut short by a chronic lack of talent, he managed to obtain degrees from both the University of London and Salford. According to his French teacher, at the weekend he mostly likes to play football and go to the park with his brother. Contact Tom on [email protected]

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