CASES of coronavirus in Oxfordshire went up by 31 this weekend as England’s chief medical office said it would be 'foolish' to plan for winter on the basis of having a Covid-19 vaccine.

As of Saturday at 9am virus cases were at 3,427 in Oxfordshire, rising 13 in 24 hours and giving an infection rate per 100,000 people of 495.5.

This was lower than the average for England of 498.4.

As of today at 9am cases in the county went up by a further 18 to 3,445, with the infection rate rising to 498.1.

The England average for the same period is 500.

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Professor Chris Whitty told reporters on Saturday that there was a 'reasonable chance' there could be vaccines to the virus before the winter of 2021-2022.

Such as the one being worked on at Oxford University.

He warned going into winter there will be 'real problems' with Covid-19 and the country should plan on the basis of no vaccine being available.

Despite cases continuing to rise there have been no new Covid-19 deaths reported at Oxfordshire’s hospitals since July 4.

Figures released by the Office of National Statistics last week also showed in the week ending August 7, the latest data available, there had been no coronavirus deaths in the county in any setting – including care homes.

Globally, as of today, there have been more than 23 million cases of coronavirus, with just over 800,000 deaths.

The UK has the 13th highest number of confirmed cases and the fifth largest death toll, being overtaken by India last week.

This is according to Johns Hopkins University, which has been monitoring the pandemic since January.