The east of England has seen no new cases of coronavirus as the UK figure rose by more than 130 in the space of 24 hours.

The Department of Health has announced nationally the number of positive cases now stands at 590.

As of 9am on Thursday, 29,764 people have now been tested, of which 29,174 were confirmed negative.

The east of England figure remains at 32.

The east of England figures are broken down by NHS region with the east of England covering Norfolk and Waveney, Bedfordshire, Luton, Milton Keynes, Hertfordshire, West Essex, Cambridgeshire, Peterborough, Mid and South Essex, Suffolk and North East Essex.

More localised figures from Public Health England will be released in due course. As of yesterday, Norfolk was among 12 counties that had no positive cases of the virus.

Read more: Norfolk coronavirus campaign targets children with hand washing message

Today Norfolk County Council launched a public health campaign aimed at early age and primary school pupils to teach them the importance of washing their hands.

Diane Steiner, deputy director of Public Health at Norfolk County Council, said: 'While there's a lot of hard work going on to be ready for the coronavirus, for most people the easy steps are still the best.

'Washing your hands and avoiding touching your face may sound basic, but they can have a huge impact on slowing the spread of the virus, limiting the number of cases and keeping cases at manageable levels. If you want to prepare for coronavirus, start with soap and water.

'We want to make sure that schools and communities in Norfolk have easy access to the latest advice and that it is presented in a way that they will find both engaging and accessible.'

There has been further advice from the deputy medical officer, who says the virus can remain on hard surfaces for up to 48 hours.

Read more: East of England reaches 32 cases as UK sees largest single-day rise in coronavirus casesJenny Harries, deputy chief medical officer, said: 'Generally, it stays longer on hard surfaces. On soft surfaces it probably doesn't last much more than 24 hours, and on hard surfaces, most of it is gone by about 48.

'But our advice has been very precautionary and we are using a 72-hour upper limit. Having said that, you can actually clean it.

'It is not a particularly strong virus, it will be cleaned quite well with normal household detergents and bleach.'

For the latest updates of Coronavirus in Norfolk visit here