LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — Britain’s hospitality sector will shed more than 560,000 jobs this year as the coronavirus pandemic kills trade in bars, hotels, nightclubs, pubs and restaurants, its boss warned Tuesday.

Kate Nicholls, chief executive of UK Hospitality, told a cross-party panel of MPs that a recent survey showed “the anticipated number of additional redundancies by the end of the year was 560,000”.

She added: “We anticipate that number will be far higher now as the result of the local restrictions” and nationwide measures to tackle rising cases of COVID-19 in the UK.

Nicholls warned of “large numbers” of additional job losses from next month when the government waters down its jobs support scheme that has helped keep millions of people in employment during the pandemic.

She said that 900,000 people are on the state’s furlough scheme paying the bulk of individual’s wages — a support system set to be heavily reduced from November.

“There is a very real danger that we will lose large chunks of the economy,” said Nicholls.

“In hospitality… that engine of growth for re-employing people will be lost for good,” she added.

Although pubs have reopened following lockdown earlier in the year, the government has forced them to close by 10:00 pm each night — while nightclubs remain shut.

Britain has suffered the worst death toll in Europe from the virus outbreak, with more than 42,000 confirmed deaths.