McDonald's employee tests positive for coronavirus

Fast food giant McDonald’s has confirmed that a member of staff at the Surtees Road branch in Peterlee is self-isolating after testing positive for Covid-19 last week.

The company has said that as soon as the Peterlee branch was informed of the positive test result it underwent a deep clean and all employees were contacted.

A McDonald’s spokeswoman said: “One employee at our Peterlee restaurant tested positive for Covid-19 last week and is self-isolating.

"As soon as we were informed, the restaurant was deep cleaned by an external cleaning company and we contacted all restaurant employees.

"We have a number of safety measures in place to help keep our people safe, including Perspex screens, temperature checks at the start of each shift, maintaining a two metre distance from others as much as possible, face coverings, regular hand washing and the use of hand sanitiser.”

McDonald’s has said that all of its dine-in restaurants are displaying signs instructing customers on how to share their details for the Government’s track and trace scheme.

It comes as coronavirus cases continue to rise across the North East, with a number of schools, restaurants and businesses closed or affected by the outbreak.

Council leaders across Sunderland, Hartlepool and South Tyneside are calling on people to follow Government guidelines to get the spread of the virus under control and avoid the threat of a local lockdown.

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