New advice has been issued to help coronavirus sufferers in Sidmouth safely dispose of contaminated items such as tissues, masks and wipes.

The advice issued by East Devon District Council (EDDC) asks residents to keep bagged waste in 'a place that cannot be accessed by other people or pets' for 72 hours and to put black bags in wheelie bins rather than on the kerbside.

EDDC has also suspended all Green waste collections, until further notice.

If your household is affected by the Coronavirus, any waste materials that you come in contact with need to be handled carefully before they are collected to help prevent further spread of the virus.

Please make sure you adhere to the following:

-All contaminated items you produce, including tissues, cleaning cloths and wipes and masks, need to be put into a plastic bag. Tie the top of the bag to prevent escape of the material.

-Put the bag inside another bin liner and tie the top of the bag.

-Keep the bagged waste for a period of 72 hours in a place that cannot be accessed by other people or pets.

-Put the bag in your wheeled waste bin (or gull sack if you use one) for safe collection by our crew. -The bagged waste must be contained in your wheeled bin and the bin put out in your normal collection point. Do not put the bag on the kerb-side where people could have contact with it

-If you have an assisted collection, bag the waste as described above, and put it out in your usual assisted collection point in your wheeled bin or gull sack

A spokesperson for EDDC said: "The Coronavirus outbreak has resulted in significant staff shortages in our recycling and waste collection crews.

"This means we have to restrict the number and type of collections we are able to make each day.

"Your collections may not be made by your normal vehicle. The materials we collect are valuable resources and we will continue to recycle and process all the materials we collect during the outbreak as we do normally."

If you would like to find out more about how avoid catching or spreading the Coronavirus click here.