A slight increase has been recorded in South Kesteven's 7-day infection rate but the number of cases has fallen today.

Today saw five cases recorded compared with eight yesterday and 14 cases over the weekend.

The number of cases has fallen from 67 in the week to Friday to 54 in the week to Sunday and 52 in the week to Monday but 53 today. The equivalent figure last Tuesday was 65.

This gives a 7-day rate of around 36 cases per 100,00, which compares with the England average of 26.8 recorded yesterday, but updates 'rates' are currently not been published due to a technical issue with the UK government's Covid-19 tracker website.

In total, 7508 cases have been recorded in South Kesteven since the start of the pandemic. This is just over one-in-20 of the population.

As mentioned, no deaths were recorded over the weekend and this week, but last Tuesday the district record its first Covid-linked fatality in more than 3 weeks.

The total of 266 since the start of the pandemic means that around one-in-600 South Kesteven residents will have died withing 28 days of a positive test for the virus.

Overall, there have been 35 new coronavirus cases and no COVID-related deaths in Greater Lincolnshire on Tuesday – down from 50 cases and three deaths this time last week.

The government's COVID-19 dashboard recorded 17 new cases in Lincolnshire, 11 in North Lincolnshire and seven in North East Lincolnshire.

On Tuesday, no deaths were registered in Northern Lincolnshire but -1 in Lincolnshire. Fluctuations in data are usually due to some deaths in those areas being reallocated to other regions across the UK or a miscount. These figures include deaths both in and out of hospitals, as well as residents in hospitals outside the county.

NHS England reported no new local hospital deaths across Greater Lincolnshire for the second day in a row this week.

On Tuesday, national cases increased by 2,524 to 4,393,307, while deaths rose by 33 to 127,307.

In local news, health bosses have said they understand people will need to "blow off steam" after being cooped up over the past year, but urged them not to go "too far" after a series of incidents this weekend.

Andy Fox, assistant director of public health at Lincolnshire County Council, said the vast majority had been more compliant than expected throughout the whole pandemic, but as restrictions are relaxed he urged people to keep to the rules.

Around 15% of Lincolnshire's adult population is now fully vaccinated against coronavirus, health bosses have said.

Lincolnshire County Council's assistant director for public health Andy Fox said the latest figures showed just under 100,000 people had received their second dose of COVID-19 vaccine – 97,984.

In national news, the European Medicines Agency says it has found a possible link between the Johnson & Johnson COVID vaccine and very rare cases of unusual blood clots.

But the EMA also said the "overall benefit-risk remains positive".

India's addition to the UK's "red list" of banned countries due to rising COVID cases and concerns over a new variant may have come too late, the UK's former chief scientific adviser has said.

Professor Mark Walport told the BBC he believed the new variant was "more transmissible" and there were "good reasons" for keeping it out of the UK.

Some police forces did not follow self-isolation rules last year due to "confusion" and fears over lack of staffing, according to a report.

Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) said some forces "did not appear to follow the national requirement for self-isolating for test, track and trace".

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has told the nation that "we cannot delude ourselves COVID has gone away," as scientists predicted another wave of coronavirus "at some stage".

Mr Johnson said there was "nothing in the data" to suggest the government would have to deviate from its roadmap of relaxing restrictions in the next few weeks, and praised the rollout of the coronavirus vaccine so far.

He told a press conference on Tuesday: "The majority of scientific opinion in this country is still firmly of the view that there will be another wave of COVID at some stage this year. And so we must, as far as possible, learn to live with this disease as we live with other diseases."

He indicated this could include bolstering defences with booster jabs.

He also announced the launch of a new Antivirals Taskforce which would be searching for "the most promising new medicines" and supporting their development.

The aim is to ensure any new treatments will be ready as early as Autumn.

"This means, for example, that if you test positive, there might be a tablet you could take at home to stop the virus in its tracks, and significantly reduce the chance of infection turning into more severe disease," he said.

"By focusing on these new antivirals, we hope to lengthen the UK's lead in medicines and in life sciences, and to give ever greater confidence to the people of this country that we continue on our path towards freedom."

He said the recent reopening of pubs and hairdressers had been a "big step" and "has brought the first glimmerings of a return to normality".

"Science is helping us to get back towards normality and I believe that antiviral treatments can play an important part.  […] keep each other safe and see through our roadmap to reclaim our lives in full."

59,097 cases (up 35)

41,135 in Lincolnshire (up 17)

8,632 in North East Lincolnshire (up seven)

2,185 deaths (down one)

1,612 from Lincolnshire (down one)

268 from North East Lincolnshire (no change)

of which 1,303 hospital deaths (no change)

811 at United Lincolnshire Hospitals Trust (no change)

1 at Lincolnshire Partnership Foundation Trust (no change)