MORE than 54,000 people have tested positive for coronavirus in Berkshire since the pandemic began, 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 4, bring the county's lab-confirmed positive Covid-19 tests total to 54,046.

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The local breakdown for the past 24 hours as follows:

  • Reading - 9 cases, 10,526 total
  • Bracknell - 7 cases, 6,833 total
  • Wokingham - 15 cases, 7,899 total
  • West Berkshire - 8 cases, 6,114 total
  • Slough - 26 cases, 14,642 total
  • Windsor and Maidenhead - 14 cases, 8,032 total

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

  • Reading - 72.3 (Compared to 370.9 on Feb 4)
  • Bracknell - 53.9 (Compared to 238.3 on Feb 4)
  • Wokingham - 57.3 (Compared to 191.7 on Feb 4)
  • West Berkshire - 60.6 (Compared to 179.9 on Feb 4)
  • Slough - 119.7 (Compared to 482.8 on Feb 4)
  • Windsor and Maidenhead - 51.5 (Compared to 186.2 on Feb 4)

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There have now been 4,201,358 cases of Covid-19 across the UK as of Thursday, March 4, at 4pm - a daily increase of 6,573 cases.

In today's national coronavirus news:

The UK could become one of the fastest countries in the world to approve new Covid-19 vaccines to tackle variants.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock said the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) will oversee a fast-track approach to approving new jabs, after studies suggested variants may make vaccines less effective.

During a visit to the Glasgow lighthouse lab, Mr Hancock said: "We will have a fast-track approach to safely approving future vaccines that work against a variant of Covid-19.

"The vaccine programme has clearly been a huge UK success story, and part of the reason that we have been able to develop the vaccines so far, so quickly, is because of the MHRA's rigorous yet flexible approach, which has been based entirely on looking as quickly as possible at the safety and efficacy of vaccines.

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"I'm delighted that they're taking that same principled approach to the approval process for vaccines that may work against variants."

Scientists have become concerned about several variants, including one first identified in the Brazilian city of Manaus.

A study this week suggested that between 25 per cent and 61 per cent of people in the city who had previously had Covid were susceptible to reinfection with the worrying P1 variant found there.

Six cases of P1 have been found in the UK to date - three in England and three in Scotland.

Vaccine manufacturers including Pfizer and AstraZeneca are already working on new jabs to tackle variants in case they are needed.