ST HELENS Council has cancelled its upcoming events programme due to the coronavirus outbreak.

A council spokesman has told the Local Democracy Reporting Service that it has taken the decision to cancel the events programme “until further notice”.

This is after Prime Minister Boris Johnson advised against mass gatherings in the UK amid the coronavirus pandemic.

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A spokesman for St Helens Council said: “Further to government advice of avoiding mass gatherings, we regret to announce that our events programme has been cancelled until further notice.

“Updates, as and when they happen, will be communicated though the What’s On In St Helens social media channels.”

On Tuesday, council leader David Baines said the authority will be looking to close some non-essential services as it tries to focus resources to protect the most vulnerable.

St Helens Star: St Helens Council leader David Baines St Helens Council leader David Baines

This comes after the government announced a series of stringent new social distancing measures, including guidance for people over 70, those with underlying health conditions and pregnant women to avoid going to pubs, restaurants, theatres and bars and to restrict all non-essential travel.

Cllr Baines said: “Our priority in the weeks and months ahead must be to support the borough’s most vulnerable residents, and this may mean that some of our non-essential services will close to enable us to redeploy staff to essential services such as children’s and adult’s social care.”

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The Labour leader said the council will continue to share information “as regularly as possible” in the days and weeks ahead.

For up to date health information and advice visit: nhs.uk/coronavirus

Further information, including guidance on the new social distancing measures, can be found at: gov.uk/