UPDATE: Bedfordshire has 40 new cases of coronavirus in 48 hours

Over the weekend, the county as a whole has shown another spike, according to the latest figures from Public Health England.

Bedford has recorded four new cases since Friday, with a total of 1,272 people now diagnosed with the deadly virus.

In Central Bedfordshire, there were five new cases with a total of 1,233, while Luton recorded a staggering 31 new cases since Friday - and now has a total of 1,423.

Meanwhile, Buckinghamshire has a total of 1,694 cases, Hertfordshire has 4,148 and Milton Keynes has 858.

Previous data shared by Public Health England relied solely on Pillar 1 (testing from Public Health England and NHS Hospital Trusts), but as of Thursday, July 2, the information includes Pillar 2 (non-clinical and commercial testing).

It has seen a radical overhaul of how coronavirus infection data is presented across the country, with hundreds of new cases emerging in individual authorities.

The new figures are recorded between 5pm the previous day to 5pm.

Nationally, the number of coronavirus cases now stands at 289,603. The number of deaths has been recorded as 44,819.

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