WEEKEND UPDATE: Bedfordshire records more than 1,500 cases

Over the weekend, Bedfordshire recorded 1,528 new cases, according to the latest figures from Public Health England.

Out of that figure, Bedford has 525 new cases, with a total of 8,719 people now diagnosed with the deadly virus; Central Bedfordshire has 471 cases, with a total of 10,518, and Luton has 532 cases, with a new total of 12,808.

There were six deaths in Bedford (273), four deaths in Luton (309) and 10 deaths in Central Bedfordshire (364).

Last Monday, Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced England would go into a third lockdown to help reduce the spread of the virus which is now being driven by a new mutation.

Meanwhile, Buckinghamshire now has 21,049 cases of Covid, Hertfordshire has 52,989 and Milton Keynes has 13,693 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 now stands at 3,072,349. The number of deaths is 81,431.

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