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Chester Zoo’s chief operating officer Jamie Christon said the zoo was "absolutely ecstatic" at the prospect of reopening to the public.

But he said the coronavirus crisis had put a "massive scar on the side of Chester Zoo".

He said the attraction had a "long way to go" to get "anywhere near" where it was before the crisis.

The 128 acre site is home to more than 35,000 animals, from more than 500 of the world’s rarest species.

Two million people visited the attraction in 2019 and the zoo gets 97% of its income from visitors and costs £1.5m a month to run, Mr Christon said.

Quote Message: We are already £5m down so far this year and even when we open on Monday we will be opening on controlled capacity of around 3,000 people a day - a fifth of our normal capacity. It’s going to take us a long, long, time to recover." from Jamie Christon Chester Zoo’s chief operating officer We are already £5m down so far this year and even when we open on Monday we will be opening on controlled capacity of around 3,000 people a day - a fifth of our normal capacity. It’s going to take us a long, long, time to recover."