A number of St Albans City and District Council staff have been asked to work from home tomorrow as a way of testing its computer systems as coronavirus spreads.

The precautionary measure is in place to allow the council to test its remote computer systems, should it need to close its offices in the future.

A council spokesman told the Herts Ad: 'Some staff will be working from home. It's a business continuity exercise to test the resilience of the computer system.

'It was planned last week. We've just got to make sure, should something happen in the future and staff are told to stay at home, that our computer system can cope - which it should do.

'It's our obligation to test these things.'

Earlier today it was confirmed that a sixth person had died in the UK, having tested positive for coronavirus.

The patient, who had underlying health conditions, was being treated by West Herts Hospitals NHS Trust.