UPDATE: Bedford records over 30 cases in 24 hours as Covid alert level is downgraded across the country

As of today (February 25), Bedford has recorded 35 new cases of coronavirus, with a total of 12,953 people now diagnosed with the virus, according to the latest figures from Public Health England.

There were no deaths in Central Bedfordshire (552), no deaths in Luton (476) and four deaths in Bedford (470).

Central Bedfordshire has 47 new Covid cases with a total of 15,043, while Luton recorded 64 with a new total of 18,751.

Meanwhile, Buckinghamshire now has 29,951 cases of Covid, Hertfordshire has 73,811 and Milton Keynes has 19,003 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 9,985 and now stands at 4,154,562. The number of deaths has risen by 323 to 122,070.

As of February 24, in the UK, 18,691,835 people had received the first dose of the vaccination for COVID-19, and 700,718 had received their second dose.

The UK's coronavirus alert level has been lowered from level five to four in all four nations, as the risk that the NHS could be overwhelmed 'has receded'.

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