A coach company has lost most of its business because of the coronavirus outbreak, its owner has said.

Peter Evans, managing director of Minibus Executive Travel, says the spread of Covid-19 has affected both the company's work in private hire and with schools.

With the Rickmansworth-based company having suffered cancellations and the Government confirming on Wednesday that schools are to shut from Friday, Mr Evans fears he will be "left with no work what so ever".

Mr Evans said: "We now have less than 10 per cent of the business left.

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"On a normal day I look to find more business but at this moment in time I don't see the point in that - there are no people going out.

"We can't work from home, so services will have to stop."

In a bid to keep the 25 employees at Minibus Executive Travel on, Mr Evans has started to reduce their wages.

But he warned that staff may have to be laid off if the spread of coronavirus continues to grow.

Mr Evans said: "This is not what we want to do but it depends on how long this continues, you can't end up paying when there is no work going round.

"The business could dry up and I have got to do something at some stage.

"We would have to shut our gates, closing up totally.

"Depending on the way things go it is such a thought that there may be no transport but many other industries are going to suffer nearly as much."

A further 676 coronavirus cases were confirmed across the UK yesterday (March 18), making it the largest rise yet. 

There are now 2,626 confirmed cases across the UK.

As of 9am yesterday, Public Health England had confirmed 104 deaths.

There are 50 confirmed cases in Hertfordshire and 953 confirmed cases in London.

Beginning on Friday, the Waterloo and City line will shut completely and from Monday TFL has said it would gradually reduce other parts of its network.