Coronavirus: McDonald's and Nando’s to close all UK restaurants

McDonald's will close all 1,270 of its restaurants in the UK by the end of Monday, as fears over the spread of coronavirus escalate.

Nando's has also said it has closed its approximately 400 restaurants in the UK "until further notice".

Costa Coffee, sushi chain Itsu and sandwich bar Subway also planned to close their UK branches on Monday.

On Friday, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said restaurants and cafes must close, but exempted takeaway food places.

That prompted Pizza Express to close around half of its restaurants to diners, while it kept the rest open for takeaway orders.

However, since then the pizza chain has said it will also close all of its stores until it is safe to open them again, and will not be offering home delivery.

The chains all said they wanted to protect the wellbeing of staff and customers during the coronavirus outbreak.

McDonald's employs around 135,000 people in the UK, the majority of which are on zero-hours contracts.

The chain said staff employed directly by the company would receive full pay for their scheduled hours until 5 April.

By that time it expects the government's financial aid package, announced on Friday, to have kicked in, with staff paid 80% of their wages.

A spokeswoman told the BBC she expected McDonald's franchises, which decide their own pay policies, to follow suit.

Previously, McDonald's had closed its seating areas but had continued to offer takeaway and drive-through services.