'Disgust' at discarded face masks left in Northampton neighbourhood streets

Pictures of discarded face masks and gloves on a Northampton street have been labelled "shameful" and "disgusting" by residents.

Hundreds of thousands of people in the UK have met the Covid-19 outbreak by wearing disposable masks and gloves when they have to go outside.

But even as people fight to prevent the potential spread of coronavirus, used masks and gloves have been pictured littered in streets across the country - including Northampton.

Photos of littered masks and gloves pictured in Overstone Road, Hunter Street and Ash Street - all in the Mounts - has drawn 'disgust' from readers on the Northampton Rubbish Facebook page.

"Anyone would think there was a world pandemic on at the moment," said one reader.

"Who knows who's dumped these items in the street like this?", wrote another woman. "No one knows whether they are infected with the virus or not. Whoever dumped them should be utterly ashamed of themselves."

It comes after environmental charity Keep Britain Tidy reported a rise in protective equipment being littered in a statement at the beginning of April.

Research into how long novel-coronavirus can survive on a surface is ongoing.

A spokesperson for Northampton Borough Council said all littering can be reported on the council's app.

The spokesperson said: “People have a responsibility to dispose of their litter properly.

"Our contractors and Neighbourhood Wardens work very hard to tackle littering across the town, and we are grateful to residents who report incidents of littering to us via our app, on our website or by email and phone, so we can target our resources, which are of course stretched at this time.”