UPDATE: Bedford records more than 220 cases of coronavirus

As of today (January 4), Bedford has recorded 223 new cases of coronavirus, with a total of 7,049 people now diagnosed with the deadly virus, according to the latest figures from Public Health England.

There were no deaths in Bedford (258), no deaths in Luton (281) and one death in Central Bedfordshire (330).

The town is still in Tier 4 with the rest of the county - which is effectively a full lockdown - with nearby Luton currently recording over 3,800 more cases than Bedford.

Central Bedfordshire has 270 new Covid cases with a total of 9,007, while Luton recorded 317 with a new total of 10,905.

Meanwhile, Buckinghamshire now has 17,735 cases of Covid, Hertfordshire has 44,492 and Milton Keynes has 11,515 cases.

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

Nationally, the number of coronavirus cases has risen by 58,784 and now stands at 2,713,563. The number of deaths has risen by 407 to 75,431.

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