Schools in Bradford and Leeds closed due to winter viruses

Public Health England said it had been providing advice to parents and schools

Several schools in West Yorkshire have been forced to shut due to outbreaks of norovirus and flu.

Four schools in Bradford have closed as well as two in Leeds with some undergoing a "deep clean".

A number of other schools across the region have been shut over the past week following similar outbreaks.

Public Health England said it expects such illnesses to circulate in schools at this time and good hand hygiene could help prevent norovirus spreading.

The schools affected in Bradford are Beckfoot Oakbank, Horton Park Primary, Beechcliffe Special School and Canterbury Nursery School and Centre for Children.

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Beckfoot Oakbank and Horton Park Primary said they would both remain closed on Friday.

In Leeds, Parklands Primary has shut as well as Leeds East Academy.

The academy posted on its website that an "increasing number of staff and students had been affected by symptoms similar to those of the norovirus" and that it would open as normal on Monday.

The cases come after pupils in about 60 schools across north-east England were sent home due to symptoms of flu and norovirus.

Dr Nicholas Aigbogun, consultant in Communicable Disease Control for Public Health England Yorkshire and Humber, said: "A number of schools across the region are reporting absences due to symptoms of likely viral illness including influenza (flu) and norovirus.

"We expect viral illnesses of this kind to circulate in schools and the community at this time of year and we have been providing advice to parents and schools to help reduce the spread of infection."