Covid case rate continues to go down in Milton Keynes - but six more people have died

Over the past 24 hours, 164 more local people have tested positive, bringing the city's total to 17,069 since the start of the pandemic.

The six more deaths, brings the toll up to 375. Meanwhile 170 Covid patients remain in MK hospital, seven of them on ventilation.

The overall case rate in Milton Keynes is now 470.6 cases per 100,000 of the population. This is down from more than 1000 just two weeks ago. But it is still higher than the rate for England, which today is 386.8 cases per 100,000 people.

Nationally, the number of new infections was25,308 today. Deaths, however, were again very high, with 1,725 recorded over the past 24 hours. This has brought the nation's death toll to 101,887 people who have died within 28 days of a positive test.

Throughout the UK, more than 7.1 million people have now received their first Covid vaccination and more than 474,156 have also had their second dose.