(Yicai Global) April 18 -- A number of restaurants in Shanghai, including fast food chains Burger King and Kentucky Fried Chicken, are taking orders again as the Covid-19 outbreak that has paralyzed the city for almost a month comes under control. Most are doing online orders only, Yicai Global learned.

A Burger King outlet in central Xuhui district was the US hamburger chain’s first store in the city to reopen for business on April 10. It is only receiving bulk buy orders for now, Xu Liangyi, operations director of the store, told Yicai Global. “We are taking group purchase orders from between six and eight residential communities each day, which means we deliver around 50 to 80 meals a day to each neighborhood,” Xu said.

Strict Covid-19 safety protocols are key to reopening, Xu told Yicai Global. Staff members must submit same-day nucleic acid and antigen detection test results the moment they enter the store to work, in order to make sure that food deliveries to consumers are safe. The local government also takes nucleic acid tests of the staff every 48 hours, he added.

Those employees staying in the shop must also take two antigen detection tests a day and send photos of the results to the fast food chain’s data system. Our store is large, which makes it easier to keep staff isolated. And the store is along the street and thus better ventilated than those inside a shopping mall, Xu said.

All food orders are delivered by our own drivers, who are equipped with full pandemic protection gear, he added.

Hotpot chain Haidilao has 18 stores and two delivery stations now taking online orders in the city, the head of the firm’s Shanghai business told Yicai Global. They offer hotpot dishes and combo meals put together with the food items they have in stock and deliver the orders by contactless delivery.

Eleven KFC outlets in Songjiang district are open for online orders, Yicai Global learned. McDonald's has started special canteens to provide people with food and beverage amid the pandemic and it expects to have more than 20 of these soon.

Editors: Tang Shihua, Kim Taylor