Coronavirus: McDonald’s identifies second restaurant forming virus cluster in Melbourne

A second McDonald’s restaurant has been forced to close as Victoria battles another outbreak at the popular fast food restaurant.

A second Victorian McDonald's has been closed after a staff member tested positive for COVID-19.

The person last worked at the Craigieburn Rd West McDonald’s in Melbourne. It is understood the infected employee completed a shift on Tuesday May 12.

The Craigieburn crew won’t be able to return to work for 14 days, and the store will undergo a deep clean, a company spokesperson told news.com.au.

This comes after a separate McDonald’s restaurant in Melbourne was shut down after a worker tested positive for coronavirus.

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Signage of the Fawkner McDonald's is seen in Melbourne, Thursday, May, 14, 2020. Picture: James Ross/AAP

Earlier this week, the McDonald’s in the suburb of Fawkner had to be closed with some workers testing positive for the virus.

The number of cases linked to the Fawkner store cluster increased to ten, health authorities said on Saturday.

The Craigieburn McDonald’s coronavirus cases has been linked to this initial cluster, with two workers from each store being family members.

"The Craigieburn employee has been identified as an extended relative of one of the previously announced COVID-19 positive cases at Fawkner,” McDonald’s said in a statement.

It is understood Craigieburn staff have been temporarily stood down and advised to undergo testing for the virus.

This popular fast food chain has seen a number of infected workers. Picture: James Ross/AAP

After a deep clean, the McDonald’s Fawkner restaurant reopened on Wednesday.

Workers from neighbouring restaurants were brought in to run the Fawkner site when it was declared safe, but are no longer able to pick up shifts at any other branch.

The company plans for the same procedure to be followed for the Craigieburn McDonald’s.

WorkSafe has been brought in to investigate how the outbreak occurred.

Cedar Meats is another business in Melbourne that has had a virus cluster occur.

Melbourne has seen another spike in COVID-19 cases overnight, with both McDonald’s clusters and a cluster at an abattoir leading to a significant rise in cases.

On Saturday, health authorities recorded another 11 cases across the state of Victoria.

The Cedar Meats abattoir in Melbourne has recorded a total of 64 staff infected and 34 close contacts testing positive with the virus.

The state’s chief health officer Brett Sutton is encouraging workplaces to shut down at the first sign of a COVID-19 case.

“I think even two linked cases is probably enough to shut a place down and probably regardless of its size,” Dr Sutton said.

“I think (I would act quicker in the future), I think the very first linked cases that suggest transmission has occurred at the workplace, I think that could be a prompt to shut it all down.”