Lockdown begins: Public Health expert reveals the challenges

Berkshire has been plunged into a month-long national lockdown as the government tries to protect the NHS and "flatten the curve" of rising coronavirus cases.

Severe restrictions are now in place which have led to leisure centres, gyms, casinos, cinemas and a range of other businesses all having to close.

There are strict rules about travel, and holidays abroad and nights away from have also been banned.

The situation in Berkshire is nowhere near as bad as in some parts of the country, particularly the north west.

Windsor and Maidenhead

The borough, which is home to The Queen for the lockdown, has the second highest rate of infections in Berkshire.

The rate currently stands at 148.6 per 100,000 people.

Tessa said one of the factors affecting Windsor and Maidenhead is that both towns have a lot of people travelling in and out from London, a problem shared with Reading and Slough.

She said there was a similar problem with household-to-household transmission.

The borough's leader Councillor Andrew Johnson had previously revealed there was evidence of people ignoring the rules and even sending their children to school after testing positive.

Tessa stressed people must isolate if they do start having symptoms.

She said: "People need to understand isolating means exactly that.

"It means getting a test and then staying at home, and away from other people. It does not mean popping to the shops, or taking children to school."