A fresh surge of coronavirus cases has been reported in Lincolnshire.

Public Health England revealed last night 18 new cases in the county, after several days of no or minor increase.

The confirmed cases figure came as no deaths related to coronavirus were repeated across Greater Lincolnshire hospitals for two days in a row.

Lincolnshire now has 1,061 confirmed cases of coronavirus, giving it a rate of 140.4 cases per 100,000. This was an increase of 18 on Tuesday.

With its 145,808 cases, England has an average rate of 260.5 cases per 100,000.

Rutland remains the fourth-best of all the districts, with it having 33 cases (83.1 per 100,000) an increase of one.

Across the districts, Melton increased one to 63 (123.3).

North Kesteven remained at 131 (112.9).

Peterborough increased by 11 to 382 (190.0).

South Holland increased 14 to 212, causing the bulk of Lincolnshire's reported increase, giving it a rate of 225.6 cases per 100,000.

South Kesteven remained on 155 (109.3).

Nationally, the UK has 248, 293 cases- an increase of 2,472 on Monday.

The UK also has a reported 35,704 deaths, with an extra 363 reported yesterday.

So far, across Lincolnshire, there have been a total of 283 deaths across various hospital trusts and council care homes.

Three more deaths were reported in Lincolnshire care homes yesterday, bringing the total number of deaths there to 63.

Lincolnshire County Council, which monitors 270 homes across the county, says the number of care homes tackling coronavirus outbreaks has now halved.

In the week ending May 8, the number of care homes placed under protective special measures due to COVID-19 peaked at 22 but now only 12 remain.

Under the measures, those who test positive are isolated away from other residents – often in their own room – in a bid to limit the spread.

Care workers looking after those affected also increase how much personal protective equipment (PPE) they use.

Family and others are also stopped from visiting.

Additional Reporting by BBC Local Democracy Scheme