CASES of coronavirus have increased by more than 500 in the past 24 hours.

Public Health England figures show that 24,639 people had been confirmed as testing positive for Covid-19 by 9am today (December 9) in Essex County Council area.

This represents an increase of 596 cases and is up from 24,173 the same time on Tuesday.

The number of recorded coronavirus cases in Thurrock increased by 53 and in Southend by 77 over the last 24 hours.

Across the UK, the number of recorded cases increased by 16,578 over the period, to 1,766,819.

Essex's cases were among the 97,789 recorded across the East of England, a figure which rose by 1,420 over the period.

The rate of infection in Essex now stands at 1,655 cases per 100,000 people, far lower than the England average of 2,690.

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.

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