Essex and Southend has seen a huge surge in cases in 24 hours.

There has been 595 more coronavirus cases diagnosed in Essex over the weekend, official figures show, and 131 in Southend.

Public Health England figures show 16,559 people had been confirmed as testing positive for Covid-19 by 9am on Monday (November 16) in Essex, up from 15,964 the same time on Friday, and 2,023 people had been confirmed as testing positive in Southend, up from 1,892 the same time on Friday.

As of Monday, PHE has updated the way it records the location of people who test positive or negative for the virus.

The address given at the point of testing will now be used to determine a person's area of residence, rather than that on their electronic NHS record, with the change retrospectively applied to tests carried out from September 1.

PHE said: "Due to reallocation of cases in this way, the number of cases reported by a local authority may be artificially high or low on November 16."

The health body is now including Pillar 2 tests – those carried out by commercial partners – alongside Pillar 1 tests, which are analysed in NHS or PHE laboratories and which made up the first stage of the Government's mass testing programme.

The rate of infection in Essex now stands at 1,112 cases per 100,000 people, far lower than the England average of 2,122. And in Southend, the rate of infection now stands at 1,105 cases per 100,000 people.

Across the UK, the number of recorded cases increased by 73,185 over the period, to 1,390,681.

Essex's cases were among the 70,455 recorded across the East of England, a figure which rose by 1,601 over the period.

Southend's cases were among the 70,455 recorded across the East of England, a figure which rose by 1,601 over the period.

Cumulative case counts include patients who are currently unwell, have recovered and those that have died.