‘Lorraine’ and ‘Loose Women’ have been temporarily axed amidst the coronavirus outbreak.
ITV Daytime have confirmed they will change their morning schedule to limit the number of staff in the studios as the deadly virus grips the nation.
They said in a statement: "ITV Daytime has taken the decision to stop broadcasting Lorraine and Loose Women live from Monday 23rd March. This decision has been made to minimise the number of staff travelling in and out of our studios and working together on shift at any one time.
"We’re focusing our efforts on providing to viewers the latest news on the rapidly changing situation which aims to offer some stability and continuity in all our lives whilst so many of us are at home right now. That’s why we have taken this tough decision to protect our GMB News programme in the morning and keep This Morning on air for as long as possible."
As part of the new morning schedule, ‘Good Morning Britain will be extended until 10am, with Lorraine Kelly joining Piers Morgan from 9am. From then, ‘This Morning’ will take over as usual and in the usual ‘Loose Women’ slot between 12.30 and 1.30pm, viewers will be shown reruns of the ITV talk show.
They added: "From Monday we will be running an extended version of Good Morning Britain from 6am until 10am. At 9am Lorraine Kelly will join Piers in the GMB studio for the last hour and then hand straight over to the This Morning studio with Phillip and Holly as usual running from 10am until 12.30pm. We will then run some of our most favourite repeat episodes of Loose Women from 12.30pm to 1.30pm to give viewers something to smile about each day at lunchtime.
"We have been reducing our crew numbers over the last week and these changes will enable us to reduce them further and help us build further resilience with the aim of Daytime content continuing to air for as long as possible. Safeguarding the well-being of everyone involved with our programmes is our priority and in this dynamically developing situation we will obviously continue to review these new arrangements on a day by day basis and follow at all times the latest PHE and WHO guidelines."
Lorraine and Loose Women temporarily axed amidst the coronavirus outbreak
