The council is giving town centres a deep clean while they remain quieter due to the coronavirus lockdown.

Barking and Dagenham’s street cleaning crews are spending 10 days tackling stains, grease and disinfecting places, starting from April 28.

Cllr Syed Ghani, cabinet member for public realm, said: “We know our residents value their borough and want to see it as clean as possible.

“We’re carrying out our usual cleaning across the borough and sprucing up our town centres as part of the normal work rota.

“As always, our priorities are the safety of our workforce and our residents so we’re taking advantage of the streets being quieter due to lockdown.”

He added this made it easier for staff to carry out their work while maintaining social distancing and keeping two metres away from others, as well as members of the public who are out and about for essential reasons.

Last year the council invested in new vehicles, including 18 trucks to help speed up the collection of more than 117,000 bins emptied each week.