No new Coronavirus cases announced in Milton Keynes for the first time in 2021

For the first time in 2021 no new cases were reported in Milton Keynes today (April 9).

Once again no new deaths were recorded within 28 days of a positive Coronavirus test.

Whilst no new cases being reported in Milton Keynes is undoubtedly a positive sign, it does coincide with a change in the way the Government are reporting Coronavirus cases.

A spokesperson for the Government said: "The way cases are reported has changed. Cases that have been identified through a positive rapid lateral flow test will be removed for people who took Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) tests within 3 days that were all negative.

"Cases of this type that were previously reported were removed from the cumulative total, reducing the total by 8,010. Newly reported numbers of cases for the UK and England were unaffected by the removal of these. Historic published date totals have not been changed.

"Newly reported cases at regional and local authority level within England are calculated as the daily change in the total number of cases. This means that for 9 April 2021, these show significantly lower numbers or zero, and should not be considered as the actual number of new cases reported on that date."

A day of no new cases has reduced the infection rate in Milton Keynes down to 32.7 cases per 100,000 people. This infection rate matches the national average exactly, after overtaking nation's average for the first time in weeks.

Nationally, 3,150 new cases were confirmed using the new recording method, and 60 deaths were reported in the past 24 hours.