UPDATE: Bedford has almost 160 new cases while Central Bedfordshire records 222

The town also records three deaths
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As of today (December 22), Bedford has recorded 159 new cases of coronavirus, with a total of 4,765 people now diagnosed with the deadly virus, according to the latest figures from Public Health England.

There were three deaths in Central Bedfordshire (287), three deaths in Bedford (225) and one death in Luton (245).

The town is now in the newly created Tier 4 with the rest of the county - which is effectively a full lockdown - with nearby Luton currently recording over 3,500 more cases than Bedford.

Bedford (Google)Bedford (Google)
Bedford (Google)

Central Bedfordshire has 222 new Covid cases with a total of 5,900 - while Luton recorded 202 with a new total of 8,341.

Meanwhile, Buckinghamshire now has 11,722 cases of Covid, Hertfordshire has 27,653 and Milton Keynes has 7,061 cases.

The new figures are recorded between 5pm the previous day to 5pm and unfortunately don't include the number of patients recovered from Covid-19.

Nationally, the number of coronavirus cases has risen by 36,804 and now stands at 2,110,314. The number of deaths has risen by 691 to 68,307.

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