Positive Covid-19 case figures in Berkshire have now surpassed 17,000, according to the latest data.

Public Health England has recorded 327 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 Sunday, December 13, bring the county's lab-confirmed positive Covid-19 tests total to 17,177, according to Public Health England.

The local breakdown for the past 24 hours as follows:

Bracknell - 51 cases, 1,867 total

Wokingham - 54 cases, 2,647 total

West Berkshire - 47 cases, 1,965 total

Slough - 78 cases, 4,695 total

Windsor and Maidenhead, 36 cases, 2,738 total

Reading, 61 cases, 3265 total

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

Bracknell - 199.9 per 100,000 people

Wokingham - 163

West Berkshire - 98.5

Slough - 284.9

Windsor and Maidenhead - 110.9

Reading - 199

There have now been 1,849,403 cases of Covid-19 across the UK – as of Sunday, December 13 at 4pm. This was an increase of 18,447 cases in the past 24 hours.

In today's national coronavirus news:

Sarah Gilbert, lead researcher on the Oxford Vaccine Development Programme, said that the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine had shown "strong protection" against severe disease.

"We do have some information about the ability to prevent asymptomatic infection with our vaccine, and that's going to be really important in preventing transmission," Prof Gilbert told the BBC's Andrew Marr Show.

"So we know that from 21 days after the first vaccination, nobody who received the vaccine was admitted to hospital or had severe Covid disease.

"So we're seeing very strong protection against the severe disease, people going to hospital, and that's the kind of thing that will protect health services.

"But of course we want to protect mild disease and have an effect on transmission and preventing asymptomatic infection is part of that."

Behaviour during the festive period will have a "big impact" on how long it takes for life to return to normal, the lead researcher behind the Oxford jab has warned.

Sarah Gilbert, professor of vaccinology at the University of Oxford, said that travelling and mixing with others over Christmas could hinder the Covid-19 vaccination programme in the new year.

It comes after NHS bosses warned Boris Johnson that any relaxation of restrictions in England's tier system may trigger a third wave of the pandemic at the busiest time of the year for hospitals.