The owner of Primark, Associated British Food, has confirmed that one in five stores are now closed after coronavirus hit operations.
The Mirror reports that the fast-fashion retailer has now shut 20 per cent of stores across Europe.
In a statement released on Monday morning, Primark said: "With developments over the last week in Italy and, more materially, over the weekend in France, Spain and Austria, stores accounting for 20% of Primark's selling space are now closed until the respective governments permit them to re-open," the firm said on Monday morning.
UK stores remain open, but footfall has decreased.
The statement said: "The remainder of the estate, including the UK which represents 41% of sales, has seen like-for-like sales declines over the last two weeks and these have accelerated over the past few days as a result of reduced footfall."
Primark continued: "Our priority continues to be the health and safety of our colleagues, customers and partners. Each of our businesses are closely monitoring the current and potential effects of the outbreak on their operations."
However, there is some good news for shoppers visiting - as shelves will remain full.
Primark had been worried that the coronavirus outbreak would mean supplies from factories in places like China would be interrupted, but with things now calming down there it looks like that won't be the case.
"In our February trading statement we described the risk to supply of goods from our suppliers in China. Since then, the situation in China has improved, with most factories supplying Primark having re-opened," the chain's owner said.
"As a result, supply shortages from that country are now expected to be minimal."
On top of that, Primark was keen to add that it's in a strong position to survive the current troubles.
"The group has a strong balance sheet, substantial cash liquidity with some £800million of net cash at the half year and significant undrawn bank facilities," it explained.
