Number of new Covid infections doubles overnight in Milton Keynes with one of the highest ever daily totals today

For the past few days the number of new confirmed infections per day has hovered between 60 and 70, causing the MK Council leader to announce the city's infection rate seemed to have finally stabilised.

But today, government figures show 135 new positive tests have been recorded since yesterday afternoon.

The total number of confirmed Milton Keynes cases is now 4,127 since the start of the pandemic.

Sadly, over the past 24 another Covid patient had died at MK hospital. This brings the hospital death toll to 150 since the pandemic began.

Nationally there was a slight rise in new cases, with 15,539 new people testing positive today compared to 14,879 yesterday. Covid-linked deaths throughout UK dropped to 397 today, compared to 414 yesterday.

National lockdown ended on Wednesday, when Tier 2 restrictions began in MK. But, due to the incubation period of the virus, it's unlikely that today's rise in figures can be blamed on the ending to lockdown and the re-opening of shops, pubs, gyms and restaurants.

Public health experts say the average incubation period (the delay between an individual becoming infected and them developing symptoms)O is five days on average. But this can vary and incubation times have been as little as one day and as long as 11 days,