A slump in the South Kesteven's 7-day infection rate has been recorded by official NHS figures.

Fourteen Covid-19 cases were recorded in South Kesteven over the weekend and again no deaths.

The number of cases has fallen from 67 in the week to Friday to 54 in the week to yesterday. This time last week, the same figure was 77.

This gives a 7-day rate of 54, which is well above the England average of 27.9.

In total, 7495 cases have been recorded in South Kesteven since the start of the pandemic. This is just over one-in-20 of the population.

As mentioned, no deaths were recorded over the weekend, but last Tuesday the district record its first Covid-linked fatality in more than 3 weeks.

The total of 266 since the start of the pandemic means that around one-in-600 South Kesteven residents will have died withing 28 days of a positive test for the virus.

This is better than the England average of one-in-500 residents.

Overall, there were 372 coronavirus cases in Greater Lincolnshire and eight COVID-related deaths last week — a 6.5% drop in cases and a fifth fewer deaths compared to the previous week.

The government's COVID-19 dashboard over the weekend recorded 53 new cases in Lincolnshire, 29 in North Lincolnshire and five in North East Lincolnshire.

No deaths were registered in Northern Lincolnshire over the weekend, with -1 in Lincolnshire. Fluctuations in data can occur for a variety of reasons including corrected data, misdiagnoses or wrong addresses. These figures include deaths both in and out of hospitals, as well as residents in hospitals outside the county.

NHS England reported one death over the weekend at United Lincolnshire Hospitals Trust, taking the total for last week to three, up from zero the week before.

Across the weekend, national cases increased to 4,387,820, while deaths rose 45 to 127,270, with yesterday's increase just 10.

Young people who have previously had COVID-19 are going to be deliberately exposed to the virus for a second time – in a new study that aims to see how their immune systems react.

The University of Oxford's "human challenge" trial also hopes to discover what dose of coronavirus is needed to cause a reinfection, and what this may mean for developing protective immunity against the disease.

It will take five years for some hospitals to catch up with the backlog of patient care caused by the coronavirus pandemic, NHS Providers has warned.

The trusts in England worst impacted by the crisis are between three and five years away from returning to pre-COVID levels, according to the association, which represents NHS trusts.

Coronavirus data for Greater Lincolnshire on Sunday, April 18

9,304 in North Lincolnshire (up 29)

304 from North Lincolnshire (no change)

41 at Lincolnshire Community Health Service hospitals (no change)

450 in Northern Lincolnshire (NLAG) (no change)

4,387,820 UK cases, 127,270 deaths