Coronavirus latest: One new case reported in Luton in past 24 hours

The total new of cases in the borough now stands at 1,689 (+1).

It comes after three new cases were reported yesterday (Thursday) in Luton.

Elsewhere in the county, Central Bedfordshire has 1,323 (+2) cases, while Bedford's figure stands at 1,407 (+5).

Altogether, 322,280 people across the UK have been diagnosed with coronavirus, up by 1,182 since yesterday.

Public Health England is re-evaluating how it analyses Covid-19 deaths.

New deaths will only be recorded as Covid-19-related if they occurred within 28 days of the patient's first diagnosis of coronavirus.

It was announced yesterday that Public Health England (PHE) is to be scrapped in favour of a new health organisation.

Baroness Dido Harding is to become the interim executive chair of the new National Institute for Health Protection (NIHP), which will be responsible for preventing future outbreaks of infectious diseases.

Baroness Harding is a Conservative peer who runs England’s heavily criticised NHS Test and Trace system, which she has been in charge of since May.

She has been a Conservative member of the House of Lords since she was given a life peerage in 2014 by former Prime Minister David Cameron, and has sat on the Economic Affairs Committee of the Lords since July 2017.

Prior to this, Harding has held a variety of senior roles at TalkTalk, Sainsbury's and Tesco.

She is married to former minister John Penrose - who has been linked to think tank group 1828 that is calling for the NHS to be replaced by a private health insurance system.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock sais: “I have no doubt that under Baroness Harding, we will found the NIHP as a thriving, mission-driven organisation.

"We have a common mission, the greatest mission of any of our working lives, and we have no time to lose in building the institution of the future.”