There have been 437 new coronavirus cases and a record daily number of 37 COVID-related deaths on Wednesday.

The government's COVID-19 dashboard recorded 355 new cases in Lincolnshire, 50 in North Lincolnshire and 32 in North East Lincolnshire.

Among the districts, South Kesteven recorded 60 cases today, putting it on 3320 since the start of the pandemic. This is equivalent to 2331.1 cases per 100,000, meaning about one in 50 have had coronavirus since the start of the pandemic.

The number of deaths in South Kesteven increased by 3 to 113, which is still less than one for each 100,000 of the district's population.

Altogether, some 28 deaths were registered in Lincolnshire, five in North East Lincolnshire and four 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 11 new local hospital deaths on Wednesday, including nine at United Lincolnshire Hospital Trust and two at Northern Lincolnshire and Goole NHS Foundation Trust.

On Wednesday, national cases increased by 39,237 to 2,149,551, while deaths rose by 744 to 69,051. This is the highest case number since Tuesday.

Greater Lincolnshire has escaped being put into a tier 4 lockdown from Boxing Day, but millions in other areas of the UK have been escalated a tier.

At least two samples of a new variant of coronavirus have been taken in Lincolnshire, according to a new study.

This comes as currently there are 367 patients with coronavirus being treated at hospitals across Greater Lincolnshire.

In response, Lincoln and Boston are among 17 new areas to offer COVID-19 community testing.

Lincolnshire Police have said they will tackle only "extreme breaches" of COVID-19 restrictions amid the tier 4 threat and coronavirus mutation.

Nationally, the R (rate of infection) number in the UK is estimated to have gone up to between 1.1 and 1.3, according to SAGE. This means for every 10 people with COVID-19, they are likely to infect between 11 and 13 others.

Two cases of a new, "more transmissible" COVID-19 variant linked to South Africa have been identified in the UK, the health secretary said.

This comes as more areas in the East, South East and South West of England will be put into tier 4 to combat the growing number of coronavirus cases.

The first trucks have started leaving a temporary lorry park in Kent after France reopened its border with the UK.

Greater Lincolnshire has seen a steady decease this week in its infection rate – remaining below the national average with only Boston and Lincoln above it.

Coronavirus data for Greater Lincolnshire for Wednesday, December 23

34,415 cases (up 437)

22,826 in Lincolnshire (up 355)

5,750 in North Lincolnshire (up 50)

5,839 in North East Lincolnshire (up 32)

1,336 deaths (up 37)

931 from Lincolnshire (up 28)

208 from North Lincolnshire (up four)

197 from North East Lincolnshire (up five)

of which 795 hospital deaths (up 11)

466 at United Lincolnshire Hospitals Trust (up nine)

19 at Lincolnshire Community Health Service hospitals (no change)

1 at Lincolnshire Partnership Foundation Trust (no change)

309 in Northern Lincolnshire (NLAG) (up two) Altogether, the UK has seen 2,149,551 cases and 69,051 deaths.