No deaths with Covid-19 were again recorded in South Kesteven today, but the district reported 17 cases.

The figures released this afternoon shows the district has gone without a fatality since two were recorded on Monday, but the 7-day case rate has increased slightly.

Some 85 cases were recorded in South Kesteven over the past seven days (compared with 80 in the week to Wednesday), giving the district a rate of 59.7 cases per 100,000.

This compares with the England average of 60.3, which has been consistently trending down.

The total number of cases in the district is 6957, which means around one-in-20 residents will have tested positive with the virus at some stage.

The number of deaths, which remains at 263, means that almost one-in-500 will have died with Covid-19 during the pandemic to date.

There have been 183 new coronavirus cases and eight COVID-related deaths in Greater Lincolnshire on Thursday, a rise from 114 cases and six deaths this time last week.

The government's COVID-19 dashboard recorded 118 new cases in Lincolnshire, 35 in North Lincolnshire and 30 in North East Lincolnshire.

On Thursday, seven deaths were registered in 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 four new local hospital deaths on Thursday at United Lincolnshire Hospitals Trust.

National cases increased by 6,753 to 4,241,677, while deaths rose by 181 to 125,168.

In local news, more than 294,000 Lincolnshire residents have now received their first dose of COVID-19 vaccine.

The latest NHS England figures show that more than 294,795 first doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been administered in Lincolnshire so far — with 10,055 second doses.

The weekly data released on Thursday means 304,850 jabs have taken place between December 8 and March 7 — up by 33,246 on the previous week (271,604).

A new mass coronavirus vaccination site will open at The Baths Hall in Scunthorpe next week, with plans to offer up to 1,000 jabs a day.

The facility on Doncaster Road will open on Monday, March 15. It will be open seven days a week between 8am and 8pm.

Nationally, the COVID surge in January hit key services including cancer and routine surgery, NHS England figures show.

Less than half the expected number of operations were done, pushing the waiting list to a record-high of 4.6 million.

The European Medicines Agency has launched an investigation into the Oxford-AstraZeneca jab after reports of blood clots in vaccinated people.

At present there is no firm evidence to suggest the two are linked and incidents of clotting have not been reported in the UK.

Across seas, Brazil has recorded more than 2,000 coronavirus deaths in a day for the first time as a more contagious variant spreads through the country and some hospitals near breaking point.

The health ministry said on Wednesday that 2,286 deaths had been registered in the past 24 hours – beating the record set the day before of 1,954.

55,015 cases (up 183)

38,728 in Lincolnshire (up 118)

7,975 in North East Lincolnshire (up 30)

2,125 deaths (up eight)

1,565 from Lincolnshire (up seven)

260 from North East Lincolnshire (up one)

of which 1,260 hospital deaths (up four)

785 at United Lincolnshire Hospitals Trust (up four)

1 at Lincolnshire Partnership Foundation Trust (no change)