The 7-day case rate in South Kesteven has almost doubled over the past week after 60 cases were recorded in the district today.

The 60 cases compares with 39 people testing positive yesterday and 78 cases of over the weekend.

But once more, there were no deaths, keeping the total at 270, with the last fatality related to the virus in the district being on Wednesday May 5.

The last fatality priority to that was Tuesday March 25, showing South Kesteven has experienced just two deaths with Covid-19 in more than 14 weeks.

Today's 60 positive tests compares with 44 last Tuesday and 14 the Tuesday before.

The 7-day rate is now 173.4 cases per 100,000, compared 96.9 last Monday and 48.4 the Tuesday before.

However, despite the rate almost doubling over the past week, it remains almost half the England average of 328.9 cases per 100,000.

The England average 7-day rate has steadily risen in recent weeks, while the South Kesteven figure has tended to fluctuate at a much reduced level before creeping upwards.

The figures come as testing has been ramped up significantly across the country, with 1.1 million tests taking place yesterday alone and 7.1 million tests over the past week.

Overall, Greater Lincolnshire has passed the 70,000 COVID cases mark on Tuesday as infection rates continue to soar across the board.

The government's COVID-19 dashboard on Tuesday reported 340 new cases in Lincolnshire, 255 in North East Lincolnshire and 89 in North Lincolnshire. The total 684 figure is 37% higher than last Tuesday's 500 cases. It is also the highest daily reported cases since November 13 when 689 cases were confirmed.

In positive news, Lincolnshire hospitals have not reported a coronavirus-related death in 39 days, and for 24 days in North Lincolnshire.

Infection rates in the seven days up to July 12 have continued to rise in all authority areas, with North East Lincolnshire now having the second highest rate in England at 930 per 100,000.

North East Lincolnshire Council's deputy director of public health Geoff Barnes said there had been a "perfect storm" combining England's success in the Euro 2020 with families taking trips to the seaside.

The figures are the highest rates the area has seen, and mostly involve younger men. Health chiefs, however, are hoping the vaccine programme will help the numbers fall in the coming weeks.

Lincoln remains top of the board in the county, and has risen nationally from 167th highest to 124th with an infection rate of 334.3 per 100,000 population.

It is joined in climbing the national rankings by East Lindsey, West Lindsey and North Kesteven District Councils.

Meanwhile, Boston, which has been top two for some time, has dropped from 143rd highest nationally to 214th. However, rates have still gone up from 199.5 to 239.4 per 100,000 population.

North Lincolnshire, South Kesteven and South Holland District Council have also dropped down the national rankings, but seen their infection rates shoot up.

The latest data indicates those moving down the board are not increasing their infection rates as fast as some other areas.

Health bosses in Lincolnshire are expecting cases of coronavirus to surge further after July 19 – but don't expect the country to return to lockdown rules in the winter.

Cases have spiked in recent weeks, with Greater Lincolnshire cases up to July 13 jumping by a further 50% after previously doubling week-on-week.

On Monday, Prime Minister Boris Johnson confirmed his government's plans to go ahead with a planned easing of the final stages of lockdown – however, urged people to continue to wear masks indoors and businesses to bring staff back slowly and carefully.

Nationally, cases increased by 36,660 to 5,191,459 while deaths rose by 50 to 128,481.