UPDATE: Bedford records over 220 Covid cases for second day running

As of today (December 21), Bedford recorded 227 cases (yesterday there were 221), with a total of 32,991 people now diagnosed with the virus, according to the latest figures from Public Health England

Central Bedfordshire recorded 506, with a new total of 49,735, while Luton has 280, taking the total to 42,785.

There was one death in Bedford (547), one in Central Bedfordshire (659) and none in Luton (598).

In Bedford Hospital and Luton & Dunstable Hospital, 90 are currently being treated in hospital and nine patients are on ventilation beds.

There is no further breakdown between the two hospitals.

Meanwhile, Buckinghamshire now has 92,929 cases of Covid, Hertfordshire has 210,342 and Milton Keynes has 50,057 cases.

Nationally, the number of coronavirus cases has risen by 90,629 and now stands at 11,542,143. There were 172 deaths - up from 44 yesterday - bringing the total to 147,433.

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