The Prime Minister has ruled out reintroducing mandatory facemasks, despite high Covid cases numbers.

His comments come after calls by the NHS Confederation and the British Medical Association for the Government to take steps to ease the growing pressures on the health service.

In Reading, staff at a Caversham GP surgery have been reduced to tears by abusive customers as waiting times spiral out of control.

As of July 19, people are no longer required to wear face coverings in England, with certain geographical exceptions, but the Government “expects and recommends” masks to be worn by in crowded, enclosed spaces.

Before then, people were fined thousands of pounds in Reading and other areas of Berkshire for failing to wear one.

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Sultan Basharat, from London Road, Reading, was ordered to pay more than £2,000 for entering a fast-food restaurant without a face mask.

The 34-year-old was fined £1,760 for going into KFC on February 12, as was proven in Oxfordshire Magistrates Court on July 9.

He was ordered to pay a surcharge to fund victim services of £176 and costs of £90.

Fined the same amount was Aatir Jabid, 23, of Western Road, Southall in London after he visited Chaiwala Coffee Shop in Slough on Christmas Day without a face covering or reasonable excuse.

He was ordered to pay at Oxfordshire Magistrates Court on June 1.

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22-year-old Cristain Vergea, from Snape Spur, Slough, faced a £660 fine for not wearing a mask in a transport hub at Wembley Park on May 21.

He was ordered to pay the fine at South West London Magistrates’ Court on October 11, as well as costs of £225 and a surcharge to fund victim services of £66.

Muhammad Usman, from High Street, Slough, entered a transport hub at Marble Arch without a face covering and was also fined £660 and ordered to pay costs of £225 and a surcharge to fund victim services of £66.

The case was proved in his absence on August 5.