Essex Police has dealt with more than 10,000 Covid-related incidents in the past year.

Tuesday (March 23) marked one-year since the first lockdown was enforced in the UK to slow the spread of coronavirus.

Essex Police says between March 26, 2020, and February 28 this year, officers were called to 13,765 incidents directly linked to the virus.

That’s around seven per cent of the 194,754 incidents police were called to in that period.

A total of 59 people were arrested in connection with Covid-related incidents.

The force has also revealed it has issued 1,242 fines to people breaching coronavirus restrictions.

Fines have been issued for a variety of incidents, including for illegal parties, non-essential travel and car cruises.

A survey carried out by Essex Police found only 1.7 per cent of respondents felt its handling of the coronavirus crisis has been “too tough”.

A spokesman said: “Our officers and staff have had to adapt to the challenges of the past 12 months, the same as everyone else.

“As you can see, the vast majority of people in Essex have stuck to the Covid regulations and united to help to keep everyone safe from coronavirus.”

Essex Police has continually said it will look to engage with the public on Covid regulations and find a reasonable outcome.

However, the force says it has taken action when reasonable conversation and instructions have not worked.