Low Covid case numbers confirmed in Milton Keynes over the weekend

Just nine new cases of the coronavirus were confirmed in Milton Keynes this weekend.

Yesterday on Sunday May 16, five new cases were confirmed, on Saturday four new positives were announced.

This is a clear decline from previous figures confirmed last week, 28 new cases were confirmed in just two days on Thursday and Friday May 13-14.

Low case numbers were confirmed over the weekend despite confirmation of the Indian variant at a Milton Keynes school on Thursday.

Further cases of the Indian variant, which has been described as a 'variant of concern' by Public Health England, were announced in nearby Northamptonshire and Bedfordshire. The Scientific Advisory Group for emergencies (SAGE) suggested the new variant could be up to 50% more infectious.

Due to the varying levels of positive tests returned over the past week, the seven-day rolling infection rate for Milton Keynes still increased slightly. Currently, the infection rate for the entire borough is 25.6 cases per 100,000 people.

By comparison, the UK infection rate now stands at 23.8 cases per 100,000. Meaning Milton Keynes' rate is now higher than the UK as a whole for the first time in weeks.

Once again no deaths were confirmed in Milton Keynes that could be linked to a positive Covid test in the 28 days prior. It has been almost six weeks since a death of this kind has been recorded in Milton Keynes.

Across the UK in total, 3,953 new coronavirus cases were confirmed in the past 48 hours and 11 deaths following positive Covid tests were recorded.