BRITISH people will need to lend a hand to harvest fruit and vegetables later this year.

Migrant workers from Romania and Bulgaria among other countries usually carry out this work in the autumn but only around a third of these workers are currently in the country.

The government has set up a Pick for Britain website so that UK citizens interested in signing up for this work can register their interest.

Environment secretary George Eustice said: "We will rely on British workers to help bring that harvest home."

Mr Eustice suggested that the work would be good for workers who have been furloughed and are looking for an extra source of income or a productive way to spend their days.

He emphasised the Stay Alert guidance as the UK's death toll for coronavirus rose by 545 deaths to 35,341. There are 10,025 people in hospital with the virus.

On Monday, 89,784 tests were carried out - short of the government's target of 100,000 tests a day.

Prof Dame Angela McLean, the government’s deputy chief scientific adviser, praised the way South Korea had used contract tracing to keep the number of cases down and added that the UK would like to emulate that.