Half of the areas that make up Berkshire now have coronavirus infection rates above 800 per 100,000 – latest figures reveal.

Data released by Public Health England shows that three of the county’s six unitary authorities have now passed that threshold, as speculation continues to escalate over new measures to tackle the Omicron Covid-19 variant in the UK.

The Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead continues to have the highest infection rate in the county and one of the highest outside London.

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Reading and Wokingham Borough are the other two areas with infection rates above 800.

On the other end of the scale, Slough currently has the lowest coronavirus infection rate in the county.

Coronavirus infection rate per 100,000 people for each Berkshire unitary authority according to figures released by Public Health England on Sunday December 19 (and new cases in seven days through December 14):

Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead: 859.4 (1,300 new cases)

Reading: 855.7 (1,372 new cases)

Borough of Wokingham: 850.3 (1,479 new cases)

Bracknell Forest: 787.7 (978 new cases)

West Berkshire : 665.5 (1,055 new cases)

Mud : 567.6 (849 new cases)

Ministers have reportedly rejected calls from science advisers for further action to tackle the Omicron variant before Christmas.

Confirmed cases of the faster-spreading strain have risen by more than 12,000 in the UK – and London’s cases alone have surpassed 10,000, according to the latest data on Sunday.

But about a third of the Cabinet are said to be reluctant to support further restrictions in the coming days, with Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Chancellor Rishi Sunak among them, according to the Times.

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