Two mayors have called on the Government to publish a regional breakdown of the 'R' infection rate for coronavirus.

Andy Burnham the mayor of Greater Manchester, and Steve Rotheram the mayor of the Liverpool City Region are warning that relaxing the Stay at Home message has happened ‘too early’ for the region.

The mayors have written to the prime minister expressing their 'disappointment' at Sunday's announcement.

The letter said: ‘We all now have a responsibility to build public confidence and empower people with clear information to make informed choices. Given that, and our concern about the heightened risk of spread in the North West, we are writing to ask you to make arrangements to publish as a matter of urgency an up-to-date reproduction ‘R’ number at a regional and sub-regional level on a daily or regular basis.

’We believe this is essential information which will help our residents make informed decisions about the risk and help decide whether they wish to take a more cautious approach to the relaxation of the lockdown rules, given the risk locally.’