The UK Health Security Agency and the Met Office have extended an amber cold health alerts in the North East amid snow, ice, and minus temperatures.

The government agency has continued the alert until December 5, meaning “cold weather impacts are likely to be felt across the whole health service for an extended period of time”.

Forecasters warn the snowy conditions could affect roads and railways, and there is an increased risk of injury from icy surfaces, according to the Met Office.

Temperatures are tipped to continue to fall over the weekend, with several sporting events cancelled.

Met Office meteorologist Annie Shuttleworth said it will be minus 3C or minus 4C for many towns and cities on Saturday.

She said: “There’ll… be some snow showers continuing across south-western Scotland throughout Saturday morning, mainly falling over the high ground above one or 200 metres, but there could be some sleetiness to lower levels across parts of the Lake District, for example, by lunchtime.

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“Elsewhere, though we’ll see the mist and fog slowly clear, it could remain quite murky for a lot of the morning across central and eastern areas.

“The best sunshine will be across northern areas of Scotland, but further south and west, you can see things starting to change a little bit (by Saturday afternoon) with a greater risk of some showers.”

Saturday’s high-profile racing fixture at Newcastle, which was due to stage the return of the Constitution Hill, has been abandoned due to snow on the track.