There have been 279 new coronavirus cases and 16 COVID-related deaths in Greater Lincolnshire on Monday.

The government's COVID-19 dashboard recorded 235 new cases in Lincolnshire, 29 in North Lincolnshire and 15 in North East Lincolnshire.

On Monday, 13 deaths were registered in Lincolnshire, two in North Lincolnshire and one in North East Lincolnshire. These figures include deaths both in and out of hospitals, as well as residents in hospitals outside the county.

NHS England reported 14 new local hospital deaths on Monday, including 11 at United Lincolnshire Hospital Trust and three at Northern Lincolnshire and Goole NHS Foundation Trust.

There have now been more than 700 hospital deaths in Greater Lincolnshire since the start of the pandemic.

On Monday, national cases increased by 20,263 to 1,869,666 while deaths rose by 232 to 64,402.

In Lincolnshire, the leader of South Holland district council expects that his area will remain "unjustly" in tier 3 as infection rates in Lincolnshire remain above the national average.

Meanwhile, 10 schools have a pupil or member of staff with a positive COVID-19 in the last seven days. One school in North Hykeham even closed after a COVID-19 positive parent failed to isolate their children.

The current rate of infection in school age children in Lincolnshire is 184 cases per 100,000 over the last seven days — lower than the rate of 243 cases per 100,000 for all ages.

In national news, Matt Hancock said in the House of Commons on Monday that there is a "new variant" of coronavirus identified in the UK.

The health secretary also confirmed London as well as other areas across the UK will be going into tier 3 on Wednesday morning due to a spike in coronavirus cases in the last week.

He said: "This isn't over yet."

GP surgeries have started vaccinating patients against coronavirus in England. Practices in over 100 locations across the country will receive their first batches of the Pfizer/BioNTech jab and will run seven days a week, 12 hours a day, to ensure as many vulnerable people as possible are vaccinated effectively.

Coronavirus data for Greater Lincolnshire for Monday, December 14

31,363 cases (up 279) 20,443 in Lincolnshire (up 235)

5,310 in North Lincolnshire (up 29)

5,610 in North East Lincolnshire (up 15) 1,165 deaths (up 16) 789 from Lincolnshire (up 13)

196 from North Lincolnshire (up two)

180 from North East Lincolnshire (up one) of which 710 hospital deaths (up 14) 397 at United Lincolnshire Hospitals Trust (up 11)

16 at Lincolnshire Community Health Service hospitals (no change)

1 at Lincolnshire Partnership Foundation Trust (no change)

296 in Northern Lincolnshire (NLAG) (up three)

The UK has seen 1,869,666 cases and 64,402 deaths.