UPDATE: Bedford records big leap in coronavirus cases with 24 in just 24 hours

As of today (October 7), Bedford has recorded 24 new cases, with a total of 1,782 people now diagnosed with the deadly virus, according to the latest figures from Public Health England.

Due to a technical issue, which has now been resolved, there has been a delay in publishing a number of COVID-19 cases to the dashboard in England. This means the total reported over the coming days will include some additional cases from the period between September 24 and October 1, increasing the number of cases reported.

There were no deaths recorded in the county.

Central Bedfordshire has 35 new cases of Covid, with a total of 1,680 and Luton has 22, with a new total of 2,231.

Nationally, the death toll has been 'recalculated' by officials. The new count is based on a new definition of who has died from Covid-19.

Previously, people in England who died at any stage following a positive test, regardless of the cause of their death, were counted in the figures.

However, there is now a cut off point of 28 days from the first laboratory-confirmed positive COVID test.

Meanwhile, Buckinghamshire has 2,581 cases, Hertfordshire has 6,747 and Milton Keynes has 1,284 cases.

Previous data shared by Public Health England relied solely on Pillar 1 (testing from Public Health England and NHS Hospital Trusts), but as of Thursday, July 2, the information includes Pillar 2 (non-clinical and commercial testing).

It has seen a radical overhaul of how coronavirus infection data is presented across the country, with hundreds of new cases emerging in individual authorities.

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

Nationally, the number of coronavirus cases has risen by 14,162 and now stands at 544,275. The number of deaths has risen by 70 to 42,515.

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