There has been a huge spike in new Covid-19 cases recorded for tests taken on Thursday, 29 December in Maldon district and across Essex.

For the first time since the start of the pandemic, the county recorded more than 3,000 new cases on a single date - with 3,146 for the 29 December.

In Maldon district, the number passed more than 100 on a single day for the first time, with 136 new cases.

Every district in Essex shows a jump in new cases for that particular date. When the results come back in, they are logged against the date on which they were taken. Five days is needed before the figures can be deemed as complete, so the figures could still change further.

It is unclear whether the spike is due to people not taking tests over the Christmas period as there was some drop in new cases on Christmas Eve and a very significant drop on Christmas Day.

However, the total figures for the last seven days show a continued rise in Maldon district and in Essex as a whole. There were 542 new cases recorded in Maldon district for the seven days up to 29 December, equal to 834.8 case per 100,000 population.

For Essex overall, there were 13,759 cases in the same seven days, meaning 925.8 new cases per 100,000 people.