McDonald’s removes all seating areas in attempt to tackle coronavirus

The restaurant made the announcement on Tuesday night.

All McDonald's restaurants in Ireland and the UK have removed their seating areas in an attempt to fight the spread of coronavirus. The restaurants will remain open as takeaways and drive-thrus, while delivery operations will also still be available to customers. The changes came into place from 5am on Wednesday morning (18 March). Orders placed through Uber Eats and Just Eat will be “contact-free, with no physical contact between customers, employees and couriers, wherever possible”. In a statement, Paul Pomroy, CEO of McDonald’s UK and Ireland, said: "Given the unprecedented situation regarding Covid-19 (Coronavirus), I wanted to update you on the steps we are taking to keep our restaurants clean and safe for you and our people. “Our restaurants will remain open for as long as it is safe to do so. "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. "Therefore from 5am Wednesday morning all restaurants will close seating areas and temporarily move to being takeaway, drive-thru and McDelivery only."