STREETS in York's city centre remain deserted as the national lockdown continues across the country to help prevent the spread of Covid-19.

Streets such as Coney Street and Parliament Street in the middle of York have next to no people on them as the city's residents continue to follow the guidelines set in place by the Government.

Around this time on a Saturday the streets would normally be packed with shoppers and tourists. However, these empty streets have been a common sight during the Covid-19 pandemic.

At this time, it is unknown how long the third nationwide lockdown will last.

It has been reported today that a concerning new strain of coronavirus is likely to already be in the UK despite the Government imposing a travel ban from affected countries, a leading epidemiologist has warned.

Professor John Edmunds, a member of the Government’s Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage), said he would find it “unusual” if the second of two new variants from Brazil was not already present, despite it not yet being detected.

The first variant has a small number of mutations and eight genomically confirmed cases of this variant have been identified in the UK.

The second, which has been detected in Manaus and in travellers arriving in Japan, has not been detected in the UK so far.

It was also announced earlier this week that all quarantine-free travel into the UK will be suspended on Monday in a bid to keep out other variants.