Coronavirus: Macy's closes all stores as Covid-19 pandemic spreads across United States

Macy's will reopen its store on March 31. Photo / Getty Images

Struggling American department store chain Macy's has announced it will close all of its stores following the Covid-19 outbreak.

The closures will affect all Macy's, Bloomingdale's, Bluemercury, Macy's Backstage and other outlet stores, more than 600 stores in total, spread throughout the United States.

The stores, which closed at the end of trade on Tuesday, will remain shut until March 31 in a bid to try to help curb the rapid spread of virus in the United States.

Macy's said it would pay compensation and "benefits" to its affected workforce.

"The health and safety of our customers, colleagues and communities is our utmost priority. As a result of the recent COVID-19 developments, we have decided to temporarily close our stores," Macy's chairman and chief executive, Jeff Gennette, said in a statement.

"We will work with government and health officials to assess when we will reopen our stores and safely bring our colleagues back to work.

"During this closure, we will continue to serve our customers through our e-commerce sites."

A growing of retailers in New York and other parts of the US have shut their stores temporarily in a bid to contain the spread of the virus.

Footwear retailer Nike has announced it will close all of its stores across the world.

From Monday, its stores in the US, Canada, Western Europe, Australia will stay shut until March 27. One Nike-owned store located in New Zealand, in Onehunga, is expected to be affected.

The other seven Nike stores in New Zealand will remain open.

Apple has closed all of its stores in the US and reduce hours of trade in others, along with designer handbag and accessory brand Issey Miyake, luxury jewellery retailer Tiffany & Co, Ralph Lauren, Nordstrom, Gap, Lululemon, Urban Outfitters and American Eagle Outfitters.

There are now more than 4300 confirmed cases of Covid-19 in the US - this has multiplied in recent weeks, resulting in more than 80 deaths.

The growing coronavirus pandemic has caused mass disruption for retailers in some of the world's most affected areas. Retailers and other employers have responded to the outbreak by closing their stores.