Production on all daytime dramas is grinding to a halt as the COVID-19 pandemic is escalating.

NBC’s Days Of Our Lives, which was recently renewed for a 56th season following dramatic, down-to-the-wire negotiations between the network and Sony Pictures TV, is on a planned hiatus this week and next week. The show will remain dark after that until further notice.

Days Of Our Lives joins CBS’ The Young and the Restless and The Bold and the Beautiful, which stopped production at the top of this week, and ABC’s General Hospital, which was shut down at the end of last week. Days should be able to go through a lengthy production shutdown without its run on NBC getting interrupted — the network currently has episodes in the can to air through October.

Set in the fictitious Midwestern town of Salem, Days Of Our Lives airs nationally on NBC in the U.S. and in more than 25 countries internationally. The core families are the Bradys, Hortons and DiMeras, and the multi-layered storylines involve elements of romance, adventure, mystery, comedy and drama.

Days Of Our Lives is produced by Corday Productions, Inc. in association with Sony Pictures Television. Ken Corday is the executive producer with co-executive producers Greg Meng and Albert Alarr. Ron Carlivati is the head writer.