There have been 1,722 new coronavirus cases and 101 COVID-related deaths in Greater Lincolnshire this week.

This comes as Friday saw 441 new cases and 18 deaths in Greater Lincolnshire.

The government's COVID-19 dashboard recorded 358 new cases in Lincolnshire, 43 in North Lincolnshire and 40 in North East Lincolnshire.

On Friday, 14 deaths were registered in Lincolnshire, two in North East Lincolnshire and two in North Lincolnshire. These figures include deaths both in and out of hospitals, as well as residents in hospitals outside the county.

NHS England reported nine new local hospital deaths on Friday, including seven at United Lincolnshire Hospital Trust and two at Northern Lincolnshire and Goole NHS Foundation Trust. Weekly hospital deaths have hit 50.

On Friday, national cases increased by 21,672 to 1,809,455 while deaths rose by 424 to 63,506.

This week saw the rollout of the Pfizer vaccine across 50 hospital trusts, one being United Lincolnshire Hospital Trust. An 84-year-old woman was the first in Lincolnshire to receive the jab.

However, Lincolnshire is faced with even tougher lockdown restrictions as new tier allocations loom.

This came as nearly a third of patients in Lincolnshire's hospitals acquired coronavirus while being treated, new data has revealed.

As a result, Friday has seen the opening of a new drive-through COVID-19 test centre in Skegness due a continued high infection rate in East Lindsey.

Twelve Lincolnshire schools have made contact with the county council over the past seven days because of a pupil or staff member testing positive for COVID-19.

This week, a Lincoln student was fined £10,000 after police broke up a party attended by up to 100 people. Lincolnshire Police were called to Viking House on Newland, which is managed by the University of Lincoln, during the evening of Friday, December 4.

In national news, SAGE expert Professor Sir David Spiegelhalter has warned of the effects of lockdown and tier 3, calming "the downward trend that happened after the higher tiers and lockdown has now stopped, cases are going up."

This comes as the R (infection rate) number rises in the UK between 0.9 and 1, meaning for every 10 people infected, they will pass the virus on to nine to 10 others.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock has warned of a "worrying" rise in cases in London, Kent and Essex, issuing mass testing for schools in those regions in a bid to get a hold of the virus spreading.

However, the COVID-19 isolation period has been shortened from 14 to 10 days to those who have been in close contact to a positive case.

Lincoln has overtaken Boston, taking the top spot in the county with the highest infection rate according to the government dashboard.

Coronavirus data for Greater Lincolnshire for Friday, December 11

5,221 in North Lincolnshire (up 43)

189 from North Lincolnshire (up two)

16 at Lincolnshire Community Health Service hospitals (no change)

288 in Northern Lincolnshire (NLAG) (up two)

The UK has seen 1,809,455 cases and 63.506 deaths.