Latest data shows that there are four patients in the Royal Berkshire Hospital requiring mechanical ventilation for Covid-19 as Boris Johnson warns of a ‘tidal wave’ of omicron cases sweep across the country.

Nearby Frimley Health NHS Trust have ten cases requiring ventilation in their ward as cases continue to rapidly rise across the country.

The Prime Minister said that at least one patient has been confirmed to have died with the Omicron variant of Covid-19.

The confirmation comes a day after Mr Johnson warned the UK is facing a “tidal wave of Omicron” which is likely to cause “very many deaths”.

In a pre-recorded address to the nation on Sunday evening, said Britain “must urgently reinforce our wall of vaccine protection” as he set a new deadline of jabbing everyone over 18 by the new year.

Mr Johnson said scientists had discovered that being fully vaccinated is “simply not enough” to prevent the spread of the coronavirus mutation and that, without a lightning speed mass booster campaign, the NHS could be overwhelmed.

Confirmed omicron cases are higher in Berkshire than neighbouring Buckinghamshire, with 19 compared to 14, but still relatively low in comparison to areas such as West Northamptonshire with 49 cases and some boroughs of London.

See our interactive map below of confirmed omicron cases in England.

 

However, these figures are not complete as there is currently no data for Reading Borough.

Below is a list of confirmed omicron cases in each Berkshire region:

Wokingham Borough: 4

West Berkshire: 2

Bracknell Forest: 7

Windsor and Maidenhead: 3

Slough: 3

Reading Borough: n/a

With cases rising the Prime Minister addressed the nation to encourage booster vaccinations and raise the Covid alert level to four, potentially one step away from another national lockdown.

This newspaper wishes to make clear there is no reason to believe that those on ventilation tested positive for the omicron coronavirus variant.