McDonald’s has just made an announcement to its 80 million followers on Facebook that it is closing all branches of the restaurant empire across the UK and Ireland.
Following the government announcement last Friday to escalate combating COVID-19, McDonald’s had already closed all seated areas throughout its chain. By 7pm tomorrow evening the drive through options will also be closed.
The move emphasises the change in urgency for the government to try and ensure social distancing is observed. It is hard to imagine the government hasn’t had a ‘word’ with McDonald’s over the weekend to ensure they play their part as a national consumer institution in following government guidelines.
Only last week a spokesperson for McDonald’s said: ‘Our restaurants will remain open for as long as it is safe to do so. This evening the same spokesperson said: “In the last 24 hours it has become clear that we need to temporarily change our operations to ensure the wellbeing of our employees and customers consistent with the Government’s guidance on social distancing.”