UPDATE: Bedford has nearly 170 new Covid cases - this time last year, it was under 50

As of today (December 10), Bedford recorded 167 cases with a total of 30,816 people now diagnosed with the virus, according to the latest figures from Public Health England

It's a far cry from this time last year when Bedford recorded 49 new cases on December 8, 2020

It was during the time of the Government's controversial and confusing tier system of restrictions and Bedford had only just been plunged into the 'high' Tier 2.

Today, Central Bedfordshire recorded 365 cases (last year it was 78), with a new total of 45,275, while today Luton has 161 (last year the town had 60), taking the new total to 40,240.

There were no deaths in Bedford (544), or Central Bedfordshire (653) and one in Luton (593).

In Bedford Hospital and Luton & Dunstable Hospital, 10 patients were admitted in the last 24 hours, 71 are currently being treated in hospital and 11 patients are on ventilation beds.

There is no further breakdown between the two hospitals.

Meanwhile, Buckinghamshire now has 84,752 cases of Covid, Hertfordshire has 189,420 and Milton Keynes has 45,716 cases.

Nationally, the number of coronavirus cases has risen by 58,194 and now stands at 10,719,165. There were 120 deaths, bringing the total to 146,255.

The new figures unfortunately don't include the number of patients who have recovered from Covid-19.

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