Covid round up in Berkshire - Monday, March 15

More than 50 people have tested positive for Covid-19 in Berkshire in the past 24 hours, latest figures show.

Public Health England has recorded 53 new 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 Monday, March 15, at 4pm, bring the latest total for the county to 54,698.

The local breakdown for the past 24 hours as follows:

Bracknell Forest - 7 cases, 6,903 total
Wokingham - 11 cases, 7,982 total
West Berkshire - 3 cases, 6,184 total
Reading - 15 cases, 10,623 total
Slough - 11 cases, 14,866 total
Windsor and Maidenhead - 6 cases, 8,140 total

There have now been 4,263,527 people across the UK who have tested positive for Covid-19.

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

Bracknell Forest - 37.5
Wokingham - 28.6
West Berkshire - 29
Reading - 34
Slough - 99
Windsor and Maidenhead - 47.5

In today's national coronavirus news:

Boris Johnson has said the UK’s medicines regulator sees “no reason to discontinue” using the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine despite several countries suspending its use.

The Prime Minister said the Covid-19 jab was safe and stressed that the UK’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) was one of the “toughest and most experienced” in the world.

It comes as Germany, France and Italy became the latest countries to suspend use of the AstraZeneca vaccine following reports of blood clots in those who have had the shot.