Covid cases continue to decrease over the weekend in Milton Keynes

There were a total of 396 positive test results on Saturday and Sunday. This compares to 657 the previous weekend and 718 the first weekend in January.

Sadly, eight more deaths were recorded on Saturday in MK.

The government records local deaths in two ways and the two different sets of figures can lead to confusion. The first method counts those people who had had a positive test result for Covid-19 and died within 28 days of the first positive test. The second includes only those people whose death certificate mentioned Covid-19 as one of the causes.

In Milton Keynes the death toll using the first method is currently 327 since the start of the pandemic. The number goes down to 288 when the second criteria is applied.

Local figures for new Covid cases staring stabilising around 10 days ago after spiralling out of control throughout December, when Tier 4 restrictions were imposed, and early January.

However, the city's hospital remains full of Covid patients and staff are still under extreme pressure. Currently there are 207 people admitted with the virus and nine of them are on ventilation.

MK's case rate - the number of cases per 100,000 of the population - was topping 1,000 last weekend. It is now down to 644.6. This compares to the figure of 537.9 for England as a whole.

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