BTS meal mania in Indonesia forces McDonald's outlets to close over Covid-19 fears
PHOTO: YouTube/KompasTV
PUBLISHED ONJune 10, 2021 8:35 AMByXavier Poh
McDonald's had to close several outlets in Indonesia on Wednesday (June 9) as delivery riders swarmed the restaurants to pick up orders of the newly launched BTS meal.
At least 13 outlets across the country were shut down by authorities, including five in Jakarta, Indonesian media reported.
“We temporarily closed four of six McDonald's stores here in Semarang for a couple of days," Fajar Purwoto, the city's public order agency head told AFP.
"I don't want Semarang to be in the Covid-19 red zone again".
In a number of Twitter posts, huge crowds of food delivery personnel could be seen at the fast-food giant's outlets, jostling with each other as they picked up the food within the restaurants as well as forming snaking queues outside.
[embed]https://twitter.com/jakartaakeras/status/1402522067040305153[/embed]
[embed]https://twitter.com/almostdita/status/1402620382910181377?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E14026203829101813[/embed]
[embed]https://twitter.com/jhopeternal/status/1402588674357817344[/embed]
According to Indonesia's Covid-19 task force, the country is one of the worst-hit nations in Asia, with a total number of 1.87 million cases to date.
The BTS meal, a collaboration between McDonald's and K-pop sensation BTS, consists of chicken McNuggets, french fries, cajun and sweet chilli sauces and a drink, was released in Indonesia on June 9.