UPDATE: More than 70 people tested positive for Covid in Bedford – with one death recorded Bedford News

To date (23 August), Bedford has registered 73 new cases, with a total of 19,712 people now diagnosed with the virus, according to the latest figures from Public Health England

Central Bedfordshire recorded 124, with a new total of 24,741, while Luton has 86, bringing the total to 27,135.

There was one death in Bedford (494) – but no deaths in Luton (517) or Central Bedfordshire (583).

At Bedford Hospital and Luton & Dunstable Hospital, 15 patients have been admitted in the past 24 hours, 60 are currently being treated in hospital and eight patients are on ventilation.

There is no longer any distribution between the two hospitals.

Meanwhile, Buckinghamshire now has 45,668 cases of Covid, Hertfordshire has 111,969 and Milton Keynes has 27,896 cases.

Nationally, the number of coronavirus cases has increased by 32,253 and now stands at 6,524,581. There have been 40 deaths, bringing the total to 131,680.

The new figures unfortunately do not include the number of patients who have recovered from Covid-19.

In the UK, as today, 47,690,741 people had received the first dose of the Covid vaccine, and 41,810,753 had received their second dose.

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