Earlier we brought you the story of 99-year-old British Army veteran Tom Moore who had set out to raise £1,000 ($1,250) for the National Health Service by doing laps of his Bedfordshire garden.

This is the moment he was told he had raised more than £5m, live on BBC television.

Mr Moore said the response from the public had been "completely out of this world".

A total of 849 staff working for Hertfordshire County Council have been redeployed to work on the front line helping fight coronavirus since lockdown began.

Around 270 Public Health clinicians, including school nurses and health visitors, have moved to frontline NHS roles.

Another 17 on-call firefighters have been trained to drive ambulances and 562 staff from suspended council services are being redeployed to Covid-19 response roles; these include adult social care, administration functions and community support roles.

Image source, Hertfordshire County Council

The University of East Anglia (UEA) has led a project involving a team of local businesses and individuals by creating face shields for the county’s health trusts.

The university has had help from 20 organisations who have come together to supply them with the materials and labour to make the parts needed to create the 1,400 face shields to date.

They have been delivered to Norfolk’s three major hospitals: Norwich and Norwich University Hospital (NNUH), James Paget Hospital (JPH) in Great Yarmouth and Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH) in King’s Lynn.

The university has implemented a strict quality control precedure to ensure the visors meet NHS guidelines.

Dr Mahmoud Abdelhamid, lecturer in Chemical Biology at UEA,who organied the face shields project, said: “We’re trying to do everything we can to assist our colleagues in the NHS during this difficult time and, with the continued help of local organisations, we’re hoping to produce plenty more."

Image source, UEA

A grandmother has spoken of battling back to health after being diangosed with the coronavirus.

Britten Court in Lowestoft offers its condolences to the families of those who have died.

RAF World War Two Lancaster pilot Sydney "Stevie" Stevens has died at the age of 98.

Mr Stevens, of Saxlingham Nethergate, Norfolk, flew 28 missions and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross.

He went on to become a social media star after an appeal on BBC Look East in 2019.

Five of the residents of Luton's 69-bed Castletroy home died after testing positive for Covid-19.

Fire and rescue services across the East of England are urging people to ignore a campaign to release sky lanterns in support of the NHS and stick to clapping instead.

They have warning from the National Fire Chief's Council, which says the lanterns may cause fires, putting more pressure on the emergency services.

Staff at Manea Community Primary School in Cambridgeshire have been delivering lunches to vulnerable students in the local area to make sure children and their families have one less thing to worry about.

The packages are put on the door and staff are making sure to observe social disancing while still getting to check in and say hello to pupils and their families.

Head teacher Nicky Froggatt said: “It’s even more important to make sure that people have what they need to keep them going at the present time. I’m really proud that I, and my senior leaders Frankie Lenton and Emma Revell, have been able to keep providing lunches to our children who are in receipt of free school meals via this ‘school meals on wheels’ service.

"It’s lovely to be able to say hello to the children and their families, and to let them know that although the school is closed to the majority of children, we’re still here to support them.”

Image source, Cambridgeshire County Council

Bedfordshire Police said it logged 2,555 incidents over the Easter weekend, meaning it was its "busiest ever weekend".

In total the 714 incidents on Sunday, broke the force's 22-year record for the "highest number of incidents recorded in a single day", it said.

Nearly half of those incidents were linked to breaches of the regulations on coronavirus.

The force has now issued a total of 63 fixed penalty notices for breaches of these rules, with 48 over the Easter weekend.

Image source, Bedfordshire Police

Assistant Chief Constable Jackie Sebire said: “This weekend shows that we are willing to take a tougher stance where needed to enforce these regulations, which are in place to save lives and keep our communities safe.

"As a result, a proportionate number of penalties were issued, but on the whole best practice was adhered to and the vast majority of the public stuck to the government guidance.”

• Crisp firm Kettle Chips, based in Norfolk, is giving away gift boxes to people helping their communities during the pandemic, reports the Eastern Daily Press, external.
• The Norwich Evening News , externalreports care home owners relief at news care staff will have access to coronavirus testing.

A dance teacher is undertaking a 12-hour-dance marathon to raise funds for the NHS.

Georgina, who runs Royston- based Miss G's Academy of Performing Arts, external, is taping, pirouetting and salsaing, as her sister is a pediatric district nurse in Colchester.

She started at 07:00 and is due finish at 19:00.

So far she has raised about £5,000 for NHS Charities Together, external.

Families across the Bedford area are saying thank you to its bin crews by leaving notes and pictures.

Bedford Borough Council said the drawings are showcasing the work of the counties "every day heroes".

"If your kids like to get creative and want to show their support for the crews doing an important job in these difficult times, please do leave a note and make their day," it said.

Image source, Bedford Borough Council

The training of police dogs is continuing at London Luton Airport, but with a very clever stand in.

The policing team have decided to use Mannie Quinn, instead of real people.

Alex Pope
BBC News Online

If you are a rugby fan, the message is simple: "Never stop supporting your team even in a pandemic."

Matt Friedel is an emergency department nurse at Northampton General Hospital, and made sure his love of Northampton Saints was clearly printed on his personal protection mask clip.

Image source, Matt Friedel

• The Ipswich Star, external reports that the John West Great East Swim has been cancelled due to the coronavirus outbreak
• A holiday park in Lowestoft is offering free accommodation to NHS staff and key workers, The East Anglian Daily Times, external said
• Bury Free Press, external reports on a Mildenhall manufacturer supplying parts to coronavirus Nightingale hospitals

Some of Newmarket's famous racehorses are showing support for the NHS with new sheets emblazoned with a rainbow heart.

Rainbows have become a sign of solidarity and support for the NHS during the coronavirus pandemic.

The distinctive new sheets can be seen in a video by Newmarket Racecouse sharing messages of support for Addenbrooke's, West Suffolk and Newmarket hospitals from jockey Frankie Dettori and trainer John Gosden.

The manager says seeing six people die in eight days has been emotionally hard for her staff.

Three died with coronavirus while the disease is linked to the five other deaths, managers say.

Rob England
BBC News

Image source, George Watkins

A rugby player has raised thousands for the NHS by running a full 26-mile marathon in his back garden.

George Watkins, from Harpenden, Hertfordshire was challenged to complete the task by teammates at Brent-based club the Kilburn Cosmos.

The 34-year-old did so in four hours 20 minutes, doing 850 laps of the 50 -metre garden.

"Initially, it was a tongue-in-cheek suggestion on the group chat from my teammate Danny which spiralled out of control... I don't think anyone expected me to actually do it," George said.

Image source, George Watkins

George also completed a number of challenges, including sitting in freezing cold water, doing cartwheels, listening to Aqua's Barbie Girl on a loop and finishing the race in his underwear.

Mr Watkins said the run was "much harder than I thought" but that the amount raised was "amazing to see".

"Apparently people were sitting and watching me for hours, donating as well to see me do silly things. I gave the people what they wanted, for the right price - towards charity of course!"