No deaths with covid-19 were recorded in South Kesteven today, but the district reported 18 cases.

The figures released this afternoon also reveal that the 7-day infection rate continues to trend down.

Some 81 cases were recorded in South Kesteven over the past seven days, giving the district a rate of 56.9 cases per 100,000.

This compares with the England average of 62.8, which is also trending down.

The total number of cases in the district is 6924, which means around one-in-20 residents will have tested positive with the virus at some stage.

The number of deaths, which remains at 261, means that almost one-in-500 will have died with Covid-19 during the pandemic to date.

Overall, there have been 128 new coronavirus cases and three COVID-related deaths in Greater Lincolnshire on Tuesday — compared to 97 cases and seven deaths this time last week.

The government's COVID-19 dashboard recorded 91 new cases in Lincolnshire, 22 in North East Lincolnshire and 15 in North Lincolnshire.

On Tuesday, two deaths were 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 has reported one new local hospital death at Northern Lincolnshire and Goole NHS Foundation Trust.

On Tuesday, national cases increased by 5,766 to 4,228,998, while deaths rose by 231 to 124,797.

In local news, police have broken up a group of around 20 youths in Lincoln as they were flouting social distancing rules outside the COVID-19 testing centre.

Officers attended Sincil Bank at around 1pm as some 20 young people were seen gathered together near the rapid flow testing site at the LNER Stadium on Tuesday.

Two South Lincolnshire districts continue to have among the highest COVID-19 infection rates in the county and England.

According to the government's coronavirus dashboard, Boston is still fifth highest with a seven-day infection rate of 151.1 per 100,000, while South Holland sits 11th at 143.1.

As the attached table shows, South Kesteven is way down the table, with rates less than half these neighbours.

Lincolnshire's health bosses, however, say that numbers are falling and their most up-to-date figures show lower infection rates of 114 and 137.9.

New NHS text alerts began on Tuesday to invite people to book a slot for their life-saving COVID jab, including across Greater Lincolnshire.

Almost 400,000 people aged 55 and over, as well as 40,000 unpaid carers, will be the first to get the text alerts nationally as part of the NHS' biggest ever vaccination programme.

This comes as almost half of Lincolnshire adults have now had the COVID-19 vaccine, with local health bosses optimistic about the future of the government's roadmap out of lockdown.

In national news, speeding up easing lockdown risks leaving the country "flying blind" to the risks of another surge in cases, the government's chief scientific adviser has warned.

Sir Patrick Vallance told a group of MPs the five-week gap between each step of easing restrictions was needed to evaluate the impact on infections and transmission.

The Pfizer/BioNTech coronavirus vaccine was able to combat the Brazil variant of COVID-19, it has been revealed.

Scientists tested the blood of people who had received the jab and found it fared well against a laboratory made version of the virus similar to the one first discovered in Brazil.

Coronavirus data for Greater Lincolnshire on Tuesday, March 9

8,240 in North Lincolnshire (up 15)

299 from North Lincolnshire (down one)

41 at Lincolnshire Community Health Service hospitals (no change)

432 in Northern Lincolnshire (NLAG) (up one)

4,228,998 UK cases, 124,797 deaths