ALMOST 250 new cases of coronavirus have been confirmed in Berkshire in the past 24 hours, according to latest figures.

Public Health England has recorded 244 lab-confirmed cases in the past 24 hours in areas including Reading, Bracknell, Wokingham, West Berkshire, Slough and Windsor and Maidenhead.

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These figures, correct as of 4.15pm on Sunday, December 6, bring the county's lab-confirmed positive Covid-19 tests total to 15,337, according to Public Health England.

The local breakdown for the past 24 hours as follows:

Reading - 50 cases, 2,936 total

West Berkshire - 19 cases, 1,745 total

Bracknell - 37 cases, 1,611 total

Wokingham - 47 cases, 2,324 total

Slough - 69 cases, 4,183 total

Windsor & Maidenhead - 22 cases, 2,538 total

The latest 7-day rate per 100,000 people locally are as follows:

Reading - 142.2 per 100,000 people

West Berkshire - 50.5 per 100,000 people

Bracknell - 103.6 per 100,000 people

Wokingham - 110.4 per 100,000 people

Slough - 264.1 per 100,000 people

Windsor & Maidenhead - 101 per 100,000 people

There have now been 1,723,242 cases of Covid-19 across the UK – as of Sunday, December 6 at 4.15pm.

The total number of deaths - those with Covid-19 listed on the death certificate - across the UK has now reached 69,752.

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In today's national coronavirus news:

The head of the UK's medicines regulator has said there "should be no doubt" about the safety of the Covid-19 vaccine which will be rolled out this week in the largest scale immunisation programme in the UK's history.

Dr June Raine, chief executive of the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), which approved the Pfizer/BioNTech jab, said there should be "real confidence" in the rigour of their approval.

Vaccinations will be administered at dozens of hospital hubs from Tuesday - with people aged 80 and over, care home workers and NHS workers who are at higher risk the first to receive the jab.

The distribution of the vaccine across the UK is being undertaken by Public Health England and the NHS in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland through systems specially adapted from those used for the national immunisation programmes.