CORONAVIRUS cost a council £66,000 in the first month of the pandemic, councillors have been told.

A report to Burnley Council's ruling executive on the revenue spending account for 2019/2020 revealed the scale of the loss last night.

And the borough's new Labour leader Cllr Mark Townsend warned: "At the time period that this report was reporting on, we had only had one month of the pandemic, and I think this shows the impact so early.

"We have had many months since then and I think this shows the kind of challenges we're going to be facing in the future."

The report said: "The provisional final position on the Council’s revenue account for 2019/20 shows a net deficit of £93,000 which has been funded from the Transformation Reserve.

"Of the £93,000 net deficit, £66,000 was due to Covid-19 related budget pressures incurred in March 2020 which reduces the true in year net deficit to £27,000.

"The projected overspend during quarter three budget monitoring was £140,000."

The report also revealed and £888,0000 transfer into the council's reserves.