The latest Covid-19 case information for Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly has been published.

As of 4.20pm today, (Thursday, January 7) there have been 303 new cases recorded in the previous 24 hours.

The total number of cases in the local authority area since the start of the pandemic now sits at 7,898.

There were 1,859 cases recorded in the seven days leading up to January 1. Data from the most recent five days is not shown due to being incomplete.

This represents a weekly rate of 325.1 cases per 100,000 people.

There have been 85 deaths registered to the Royal Cornwall Hospitals Trust and 28 to the Cornwall Partnerships NHS Trust, bringing the overall total number of hospital deaths in Cornwall to 113.

Nationally a further 661 people who tested positive for Covid-19 have died in hospitals in England, bringing the total number to 53,730.

Patients were aged between 33 and 103 years old. All except 28 (aged 48 to 96 years old) had known underlying health conditions.

Date of death ranges from December 2 to 6 January 6.

Their families have been informed.

Of these, 42 deaths were in the south west.

Overall in the UK another 1,162 people have died within 28 days of their first positive test result, bringing the total number of UK deaths to 78,508. This figure includes people in care home and other settings.

The number of people testing positive for coronavirus in the UK has increased by 52,618.

This brings the total to 2,889,419 nationally since the start of the pandemic.

In other coronavirus-related news:

A stark warning has been issued by Cornwall's health chief over Covid saying the virus is 'very nearly' out of control in the county and things are only going to get worse.

Read the full story here.

Questions have been raised over whether local elections set to take place in May should be pushed back to the summer or autumn due to the Covid-19 pandemic - and Cornwall councillors seem to be split on whether polling day should be postponed.

Read the full story here.