EVENING UPDATE: Bedford records 74 new cases as Covid spreads in town

As of last night (December 14), Bedford recorded 74 new cases of coronavirus, with a total of 3,933 people now diagnosed with the deadly virus, according to the latest figures from Public Health England.

There were no deaths in Central Bedfordshire (271), no deaths in Bedford (213) and no deaths in Luton (234).

The town - which had been in the medium tier before lockdown - has now been lumped in with the whole of the county in the 'high' Tier 2 with Luton currently recording over 3,200 more cases than Bedford.

Central Bedfordshire has 122 new Covid cases with a total of 4,658 - while Luton recorded 127 with a new total of 7,137.

Meanwhile, Buckinghamshire now has 9,406 cases of Covid, Hertfordshire has 21,992 and Milton Keynes has 5,195 cases.

The new figures are recorded between 5pm the previous day to 5pm.

Nationally, the number of coronavirus cases has risen by 20,263 and now stands at 1,869,666. The number of deaths has risen by 232 to 64,402.

The figures come from the Government website which is available for the public to view here