UPDATE: Bedfordshire records more than 2,400 cases of coronavirus over new year period

Between New Year's Eve and yesterday, the county recorded 2,440 new cases of coronavirus, according to the latest figures from Public Health England.

Out of the 2,440, Bedford recorded 686 new cases with a new total of 6,826; Central Bedfordshire recorded 977 with a new total of 8,737; and Luton recorded 777 cases with a new total of 10,588.

There nine deaths in Bedford (258), 25 deaths in Central Bedfordshire (329), and 17 deaths in Luton (281).

The town is now in the newly created Tier 4 with the rest of the county - which is effectively a full lockdown - with nearby Luton currently recording over 3,700 more cases than Bedford.

Meanwhile, Buckinghamshire now has 17,153 cases of Covid, Hertfordshire has 42,813 and Milton Keynes has 11,203 cases.

The new figures are recorded between 5pm the previous day to 5pm and unfortunately don't include the number of patients recovered from Covid-19.

Nationally, the number of coronavirus cases now stands at 2,654,779. The number of deaths is 75,024.

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