Coronavirus in Berkshire round up - Thursday, March 18

[Cookham v Coronavirus]

ALMOST 55,000 people have tested positive for coronavirus in Berkshire, according to the latest figures.

Public Health England has recorded 79 lab-confirmed cases in the past 24 hours in areas including Reading, Bracknell, Wokingham, West Berkshire, Slough, and Windsor and Maidenhead.

These figures, correct as of 4pm on Thursday, March 18, bring the county's lab-confirmed positive Covid-19 tests total to 54,901.

The local breakdown for the past 24 hours as follows:

Reading - 14 cases, 10,648 total
Bracknell - 9 cases, 6,919 total
Wokingham - 10 cases, 8,022 total
West Berkshire - 6 cases, 6,209 total
Slough - 27 cases, 14,921 total
Windsor and Maidenhead - 13 cases, 8,182 total

The latest seven-day rate per 100,000 people locally are as follows:

Reading - 38.9 (Compared to 370.9 on February 4)
Bracknell - 35.9 (Compared to 238.3 on February 4)
Wokingham - 36.8 (Compared to 191.7 on February 4)
West Berkshire - 30.9 (Compared to 179.9 on February 4)
Slough - 94.3 (Compared to 482.8 on February 4)
Windsor and Maidenhead - 40.9 (Compared to 186.2 on February 4)

There have now been 4,280,882 cases of Covid-19 across the UK as of Thursday, February 4, at 4pm - a daily increase of 6,303 cases.

In today's national coronavirus news:

Cabinet minister Robert Jenrick has said there is "no reason to believe" the road map to easing the lockdown will be delayed by the shortage in vaccine supplies.

The Housing Secretary told Sky News: "There's no reason to believe the road map is affected by this temporary shortage in supply.

"There's no concern that we are off course on the road map."

Cabinet minister Robert Jenrick has said "nobody who has an appointment should be concerned" amid a temporary shortage of vaccine supply.

The Housing Secretary told Sky News: "We do think there are going to be some supply issues in the weeks ahead but this isn't anything that people should be worried about, we're still on course to meet our targets.

Nobody who has an appointment should be concerned, you're still going to get your second vaccine, all those appointments will be honoured.

"But we always said right from the beginning that a new manufacturing process would have its lumps and bumps, that has been the case in the past and I'm sure it will be in the future."