UPDATE: Bedford records over 220 coronavirus cases

As of today (January 15), Bedford has recorded 225 new cases of coronavirus, with a total of 9,695 people now diagnosed with the virus, according to the latest figures from Public Health England.

Central Bedfordshire has 282 new Covid cases with a total of 11,545, while Luton recorded 296 with a new total of 14,023.

There were six deaths recorded in Bedford (312), two deaths in Luton (331) and one death in Central Bedfordshire (388).

Meanwhile, Buckinghamshire now has 23,000 cases of Covid, Hertfordshire has 58,138 and Milton Keynes has 15,000 cases.

Nationally, the number of coronavirus cases has risen by 55,761 and now stands at 3,316,019. The number of deaths has risen by 1,280 to 87,295.

In the UK, as of January 14, 3,234,946 people in the UK had received the first dose of the vaccination for COVID-19, and 443,234 had received their second dose. ​

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.

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

Last 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.