WEEKEND UPDATE: Bedfordshire records 155 new cases of coronavirus

Bedfordshire has recorded 155 new cases of coronavirus over the weekend, according to the latest figures from Public Health England.

Due to a technical issue, which has now been resolved, there has been a delay in publishing a number of COVID-19 cases to the dashboard in England. This means the total reported over the coming days will include some additional cases from the period between 24 September and 1 October, increasing the number of cases reported.

There was one death recorded in the county.

Out of those 155, Bedford has 46 new cases, with a total of 1,723, Central Bedfordshire has 49 new cases, with a total of 1,626 and Luton has 60 new cases, with a total of 2,174.

Nationally, the death toll has been 'recalculated' by officials. The new count is based on a new definition of who has died from Covid-19.

Previously, people in England who died at any stage following a positive test, regardless of the cause of their death, were counted in the figures.

However, there is now a cut off point of 28 days from the first laboratory-confirmed positive COVID test.

Meanwhile, Buckinghamshire has 2,439 cases, Hertfordshire has 6,353 and Milton Keynes has 1,223 cases.

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 502,978, The number of deaths now stands at 42,350.

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