Covid cases in Milton Keynes go DOWN today

This follows several days of figures staring to stabilise and has sparked hope that the city is over the peak of the pandemic.

However, MK hospital has warned that the worst could be yet to come, as people who contracted the virus over the festive season are only now reaching the critical stage - 10 to 12 days after the start of symptoms.

There were 657 new cases over the weekend, bringing the MK total to 13,965 since the start of the crisis. Government figures show 270 deaths recorded in MK during the same period.

After topping 1,000 over the weekend, the city's case rate has now dropped to 856.5.per 100,000 people. But this is still considerably higher than the England average of 6.29.3

The number of Covid patients in MK hospital remains high with 218 occupying beds over the weekend. Five of these are on ventilation

Nationally there were 46,169 new cases today and 529 deaths.