McDonald’s is shutting down all restaurants in the United Kingdom and Ireland by Monday 7 p.m. to maintain safe social distancing amid the coronavirus pandemic, McDonald’s UK & Ireland CEO Paul Pomroy said in a statement.
This past week, McDonald's closed all its seating areas in the UK and Ireland and limited all operations to take away, drive-through and delivery options.
"Over the last 24 hours, it has become clear that maintaining safe social distancing whilst operating busy takeaway and Drive-Thru restaurants is increasingly difficult and therefore we have taken the decision to close every restaurant in the UK and Ireland by 7 pm on Monday 23rd March," Pomroy said.
He said McDonald’s would be working closely with community groups in the UK and Ireland in the coming days to distribute food from its restaurants to those most in need. He also said that frontline health workers and emergency services personnel can get food and drink at any McDonald’s restaurant with their work pass free of charge.
The UK confirmed 5,683 COVID-19 cases, including 281 fatalities, as of Sunday.
