UPDATE: Bedford records more cases than Luton for second day running with 288 cases in 24 hours

As of today (January 6), Bedford has recorded 288 new cases of coronavirus, with a total of 7,785 people now diagnosed with the deadly virus, according to the latest figures from Public Health England.

There were five deaths in Bedford (266), seven deaths in Luton (292) and 11 deaths in Central Bedfordshire (345).

On Monday, Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced England would go into a third lockdown to help reduce the spread of the virus which is now being driven by a new mutation.

This is the second day running Bedford has recorded more cases than nearby Luton after yesterday's figure of 448 compared with Luton's 360 new cases.

Central Bedfordshire has 251 new Covid cases with a total of 9,553, while Luton recorded 276 with a new total of 11,541.

Meanwhile, Buckinghamshire now has 18,819 cases of Covid, Hertfordshire has 47,493 and Milton Keynes has 12,355 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 62,322 and now stands at 2,836,801. The number of deaths has risen by 1,041 to 77,346.

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