South Kesteven today reported no deaths and a declining case rate reducing even further.

The district remains in 244 fatalities of people dying after being tested positive with the virus, which amounts to about one-in-600 of its population since the start of the pandemic.

The number of cases rose by 38 to 6595, which amounts to just over one-in-20 of the district's population.

The 38 is higher than recent days but being lower than the sane day last week, it meant the number of cases in the week to today fell from 160 yesterday to 155 today.

This compares to 287 last Thursday and 361 the Thursday before, showing how case numbers have more than halved in the past fortnight.

The 7-day rate is now 108.8 cases per 100,000, which is well below the England average of 137.8, which is also declining rapidly.

Overall, the government's COVID-19 dashboard recorded 159 new cases in Lincolnshire, 23 in North East Lincolnshire and 13 in North Lincolnshire.

On Thursday, one death was registered in Lincolnshire, one in North East Lincolnshire and -1 in North 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 five new local hospital deaths, including three at United Lincolnshire Hospitals Trust, one at Northern Lincolnshire and Goole NHS Foundation Trust and one at Lincolnshire Community Health Service hospitals.

On Thursday, national cases increased by 12,057 to 4,083,242, deaths rose by 454 to 119,387, while COVID first jab numbers hit over 16.4 million.

In local news, the latest NHS England figures show that nearly 203,000 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been administered in Lincolnshire.

The weekly data released on Thursday shows 202,799 jabs have taken place between December 8 and February 14 – up by 36,828 on the previous week.

It breaks down as 199,652 first doses and 3,147 second doses.

Nationally, internal plans in Whitehall suggest a rapid reopening of the economy in the weeks after pupils return to classrooms on March 8, according to Sky News.

Government officials have drawn up a timetable to help work out internal plans to roll out the planned mass COVID testing regime.

This suggests a desire to reopen rapidly in the weeks after schools readmit most children next month.

Face-to-face visits in care homes could resume within weeks as England's lockdown is eased, a minister has suggested.

Care minister Helen Whately told Sky News she wants to see a return to more "normal" visits as COVID-19 restrictions are relaxed and suggested residents wouldn't need to have the second dose of their coronavirus vaccine before seeing relatives.

Surge testing is to begin in an area of Leeds as authorities attempt to control the potential spread of the South African COVID-19 variant after more cases were found.

The Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC) said people living in the LS8 postcode should take a test when offered, whether they are showing symptoms or not.

Coronavirus data for Greater Lincolnshire on Thursday, February 18

7,813 in North Lincolnshire (up 13)

297 from North Lincolnshire (down one)

41 at Lincolnshire Community Health Service hospitals (up one)

413 in Northern Lincolnshire (NLAG) (up one)

Across the UK, there have been 4,083,242 cases and 119,387 deaths.