South Kesteven has now gone more than 3 weeks without a fatality as the UK recorded just 15 deaths today.

However, the district recorded 7 cases today, which compares with 6 last Friday and 6 the previous Thursday. Overall 35 cases have been reported in the past week.

This gives South Kesteven a 7-day infection rate of 24.6 cases per 100,000, which is just above the England average of 21.4.

This is an increase on the 13.3 cases per 100,000 recorded last Friday but better than the 26.7 recorded yesterday.

Either way, the latest figures remain among the lowest since last year and around a twentieth of figures earlier in the year when the weekly rate exceeded 400 cases per 100,000.

Overall, South Kesteven has seen 7582 recorded cases since the start of the pandemic- which is about one for every 20 residents.

The number of deaths has remained at 266 for more than 3 weeks. This means that around one-in-600 residents have died within 28 days of a positive test since the pandemic started, which compares with an England average of one-in-500.

In total, there have been 248 coronavirus cases in Greater Lincolnshire and three COVID-related deaths so far this week – a 7% drop in cases but two more deaths than the previous week.

The government's COVID-19 dashboard on Friday recorded 35 new cases in Lincolnshire, four in North Lincolnshire and four in North East Lincolnshire.

One death was registered 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 two hospital deaths this week so far. Friday's death was at Northern Lincolnshire and Goole NHS Foundation Trust, the first death there in over a month. This time last week, no hospital deaths were recorded across Greater Lincolnshire hospitals.

On Friday, national cases increased by 2,490 to 4,431,043, while deaths rose by 15 to 127,598.

In local news, all people under the age of 40 will be offered an alternative COVID-19 vaccination to the Oxford/AstraZeneca jab after fears that young people could get rare blood clots.

The move is a precautionary one after evidence of young people suffering from blood clots once they were given the AstraZeneca jab increased.

A Year 9 student at Cleethorpes Academy has tested positive for coronavirus, resulting in 28 pupils now self-isolating as a precaution.

Principal Mrs Janice Hornby sent a letter to parents/carers on Thursday, May 6 and said the school is continuing to monitor the situation and is working closely with Public Health England. In national news, England's R number has fallen slightly to between 0.8 and 1, latest figures show. This means that on average, every 10 people infected with COVID-19 will pass it on to between eight and 10 other people. The Prime Minister has said the government needs to carefully handle outbreaks of the India variant of coronavirus in the UK.

It comes as Public Health England (PHE) said one version of it had been elevated to a "variant of concern".

Coronavirus data for Greater Lincolnshire on Friday, May 7

59,937 cases (up 43) 41,627 in Lincolnshire (up 35)

9,614 in North Lincolnshire (up four)

8,696 in North East Lincolnshire (up four) 2,192 deaths (up one) 1,617 from Lincolnshire (no change)

307 from North Lincolnshire (up one)

268 from North East Lincolnshire (no change) of which 1,305 hospital deaths (up one) 812 at United Lincolnshire Hospitals Trust (no change)

41 at Lincolnshire Community Health Service hospitals (no change)

1 at Lincolnshire Partnership Foundation Trust (no change)

451 in Northern Lincolnshire (NLAG) (no change)

4,431,043 UK cases, 127,598 deaths