More police officers will be drafted in this weekend following a surge in reported incidents.

Greater Manchester Police are now appealing to the public to use the force's full range of reporting methods available to report non-emergency crime over the coming weekend, following a large increase in demands for service.

Since Monday, the force has seen a large increase in demand and has put plans in place for extra officers to be available over this weekend and the week ahead.

Assistant Chief Constable Chris Sykes said: "Officers and staff continue to play a vital and challenging role in the effort to prevent the spread of coronavirus, while still dealing with a high volume of non-virus related incidents including serious and complex cases.

"There has been a significant increase in calls received into our control room in the last few days, with the majority of those being categorised as high priority.

“To help cope with this influx of incidents, we have taken the decision to re-distribute officers from other units to front line policing, to cope with the extra demand that we are experiencing at this time.

"I would ask the public that if you need to report a non-urgent crime, then please consider using our online methods of reporting. These reports are sent straight to our control room and will help reduce the 101 call waiting time.

"As always, the forces main priority is to keep our local communities safe and we continue to deliver a high standard of policing to Greater Manchester."

They have asked for people to report non urgent crime on their online reporting form https://crowd.in/hPdMIf but remind people to always call 999 in an emergency.