Three more Berkshire coronavirus deaths

Another 226 cases of coronavirus have been recorded across Berkshire in the past 24 hours, the latest figures show (Saturday, December 5).

In the same time, another three deaths at NHS hospitals serving the county have been reported, with two at Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust and one at Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust.

Reading had the biggest increase in cases overnight with a rise of 52.

There were 42 new cases in Slough and 41 in Bracknell Forest.

The Government said a further 397 people had died within 28 days of testing positive for Covid-19 as of Saturday, bringing the UK total to 61,014.

This is how the latest breakdown of cases for each area of Berkshire:

Bracknell Forest : 1,574 cases (increase of 41)
Reading : 2,886 cases (increase of 52)
Slough : 4,114 cases ( increase of 42)
West Berkshire : 1,726 cases (increase of 20)
Windsor and Maidenhead: 2,516 cases (increase of 31)
Wokingham : 2,277 cases (increase of 40)
This is the latest data on the total number of deaths at NHS trusts in and around Berkshire:

Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust: 451 (increase of two)
Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust: 262 (increase of one)
Berkshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust: 23 (no change)
Separate figures published by the UK’s statistics agencies for deaths where Covid-19 has been mentioned on the death certificate, together with additional data on deaths that have occurred in recent days, show there have now been 74,000 deaths involving Covid-19 in the UK.

As of 9am on Saturday, there had been a further 15,539 lab-confirmed cases of coronavirus in the UK.

It brings the total number of cases in the UK to 1,705,971.

The UK’s chief medical officers have warned the coronavirus vaccine will only have a “marginal impact” on hospital numbers over the winter as each of the four nations prepares to start administering the first doses next week.

Festive gatherings are likely to put additional pressure on healthcare services, with a tough few months still ahead, experts said.

It comes as preparations are continuing to roll out the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine from as early as Tuesday in what has been described as “one of the greatest challenges the NHS has ever faced”.

GP surgeries in England have also been told to be ready to start staffing Covid-19 vaccination centres by December 14.

In a letter to colleagues, the four chief medical officers said this winter would be “especially hard” for the health service due to coronavirus.