MORE than 60 people have tested positive for Covid-19 in Berkshire in the past 24 hours.

Public Health England has recorded 65 new 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 Tuesday, March 9, at 4.03pm, bring the latest total for the county to 54,323.

The local breakdown for the past 24 hours as follows:

Bracknell Forest - 9 cases, 6,860 total

Wokingham - 6 cases, 7,929 total

Reading - 6 cases, 10,555 total

West Berkshire - 9 cases, 6,144 total

Slough - 23 cases, 14,744 total

Windsor and Maidenhead -12 cases, 8,091 total

There have now been 4,228,998 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 - 34.3

Wokingham - 41.5

Reading - 40.2

West Berkshire - 31.6

Slough - 87.6

Windsor and Maidenhead - 40.9

In today's national coronavirus news:

England’s Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty has predicted another deadly “surge” of coronavirus across the country as Boris Johnson’s road map out of lockdown started this week.

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Chris Whitty warned “all modelling” suggests cases will soar as lockdown restrictions ease and rejected call from MPs to ease lockdown restrictions faster.

"If you open up too fast, a lot more people die - a lot more people die," he said.

Whitty was joined by Chief Scientific Advisor Sir Patrick Vallance who warned the Commons Science and Technology Committee the reopening of schools could see the R number rise by 10 per cent to 50 per cent.

Sir Vallance said: "Nobody would say we know exactly how this is going to roll out over the next few months.

"The important thing is to measure, adapt and take decisions in the light of information as it emerges.”