South Kesteven now has a 7-day infection rate a quarter of the England average.

The district recorded one case yesterday, following four on Saturday.

The latest numbers also mean the 7-day rate has also halved over the past week.

The district's record contrasts with the national situation which is reporting rising cases and deaths again.

South Kesteven now has a 7-day case rate of 9.8 cases per 100,000, based on a recorded 14 cases, which compares with the England average of 37.4, which is rising slowly.

The weekend 5 cases compares with 6 last weekend, and 4 the weekend before.

Whilst the district figures fluctuate, the latest figures are the lowest since last year and less than a fortieth of figures earlier in the year when the weekly rate exceeded 400 cases per 100,000.

The grand total of 7659 cases in South Kesteven since the start of the pandemic is equivalent to just over one case per 20 residents. The national average is about one-in-15.

There were no deaths recorded in the district but the first fatality in nearly 6 weeks two weeks ago puts the district's death tally on 267, equivalent to about one-in-600 residents, which is better than the England average of one-in-500 residents.

Overall, the government's UK Covid-19 tracker recorded 197 coronavirus cases last week and one COVID-related death — a 4% rise in cases and one extra death than the week before in Greater Lincolnshire.

The dashboard over the weekend recorded 38 new cases in Lincolnshire, 19 in North East Lincolnshire and 11 in North Lincolnshire.

No coronavirus deaths were reported in Greater Lincolnshire over the weekend, both in and out of hospitals, as well as residents in hospitals outside the county.

NHS England reported no local hospital deaths in Greater Lincolnshire hospitals in total last week, down from three the week before.

However, it has stopped reporting weekend numbers, instead opting to catch-up the day after.

National cases have increased 5341 to 4,516,892 while deaths rose by 4 to 127,840.

In national news, Sir David King, a former chief scientific adviser to the government, said the current COVID-19 figures are "evidence of another wave appearing".

He told Sky News: "[There are] 5,300 new cases of the disease per day in the United Kingdom and we're up about 2,000 on last week.

As a result, the government is "absolutely open" to delaying the final lifting of England's COVID lockdown on 21 June if necessary, the health secretary has said.

Matt Hancock insisted 21 June was a "not before" date to end restrictions and No 10 "would look at the data".

This comes as the Delta (Indian) variant is 40% more transmissible but protection against it is just as good with two doses of a vaccine.

In other news, the government has turned to dating apps to encourage young people to get vaccinated against COVID-19.

From Monday, Tinder, Hinge, Match, Badoo, Plenty of Fish, OurTime, Muzmatch and Bumble will allow users to show their support for the vaccine on their dating profiles.

Coronavirus data for Greater Lincolnshire on Sunday, June 6

9,787 in North Lincolnshire (up 11)

307 from North Lincolnshire (no change)

41 at Lincolnshire Community Health Service hospitals (no change)

453 in Northern Lincolnshire (NLAG) (no change)

4,516,892 UK cases, 127,840 deaths