Walmart temporarily shut down nearly 60 U.S. stores in COVID-19 hotspots in December for deep cleaning and sanitizing amid rising Covid-19 cases of the Omicron variant, Reuters reported.
The retail giant, which has more than 4,700 U.S. locations in total, closed stores in various locations, including Texas and New Jersey, for two days for cleaning.
Meanwhile, Walmart is yet to confirm whether there were Covid cases among staff at the closed locations.
At the start of the coronavirus pandemic two years ago, Walmart reportedly had adopted a policy of closing stores for fewer than two days to get ahead of potential outbreaks.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention or CDC recommends that if a sick person or someone who tested positive for COVID-19 has been in a facility, it closes off areas used by the person who is sick and do not use those areas until after cleaning and disinfecting.
Rising COVID-19 cases, mainly among staff, are forcing several retailers and restaurant chains to temporarily close their facilities in various places across the country.
The United States witnessed unprecedented levels of surge in coronavirus infection cases of the Omicron variant over the past weekend. Average daily infections reportedly were 405,470, rising by more than 200 percent in a period of two weeks.
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