There were 350 cases of Covid-19 confirmed today (Wednesday, 21 October) in the Essex county area, taking the total figure for the outbreak to more than 10,000.

There have been 10,318 cases in all in the area covered by Essex County Council (ECC), with a total of 269 of these in Maldon district since the pandemic began. There have 1,418 deaths in the county overall, with 35 of these in Maldon district. The county figures do not include Thurrock and Southend, as these are unitary authorities.

The current rate of infection in Maldon, calculated using the latest available data from the ECC Covid-tracker, is 52 per 100,000.

The current rate for Essex county as a whole is 74 per 100,000.

The large number of cases added to the total today were from the last few days. When they are recorded on the Covid-tracker, the results are recorded against the day the test was taken, rather than the day the results came in.

At the time of publication, just two confirmed cases for the whole county were recorded against tests taken yesterday (20 October), meaning that it is probable that many more results for that day are yet to be recorded on the tracker.

Data for the tracker comes directly from Public Health England and is updated daily, so it appears highly likely that the results from the vast majority of tests taken in Essex are not currently reported in figures within 24 hours.