Milton Keynes' Covid rate rises to above national average again

Over the past 24 hours, 54 positive cases have been confirmed.

The new deaths bring the city's sad total to 433, with 30 of these happening the past week.

However the number of Covid patients currently in Milton Keynes hospital has gone down significantly to 98, compared to more than 200 in January. Three of these current patients are on ventilation.

Today MK's seven-day case rate rose for the first time in four weeks and now stands at 135.8 cases per 100,000 people.

Milton Keynes' infection rate is now slightly higher than the national average of 131.8 per 100,000 people. It is still slightly below the average for England, which is 137.8.

Nationally 12.057 people tested positive today and 454 deaths were recorded.

More than 16.4 million people in the UK have now been vaccinated.