South Kesteven recorded six deaths today, meaning 197 have officially died in the district since the start of the pandemic.

The total amounts to 138.3 deaths per 100,000 of population as well as 20 since since the weekend.

However, the number of cases in the district maintains a downward trend.

Some 47 cases were recorded today, putting the district on 5913 cases since the start of the pandemic.

This is equivalent to about one-in-25 cases per 100,000 of the county's population.

The 7-day case rate maintained a downward trend, falling from 292.8 cases per 100,00o to 297.4 cases per 100,000, as the number of weekly cases dropped from 417 to 398. Earlier in the week, the weekly numbers were as high as 435.

Overall, there have been 1,384 new coronavirus cases and 68 COVID-related deaths in Greater Lincolnshire this week – compared to 1,643 cases and 83 deaths last week.

Some 338 new cases and 19 deaths were reported in Greater Lincolnshire on Friday, the first time this week with more than 300 cases in a day.

The government's COVID-19 dashboard recorded 267 new cases in Lincolnshire, 43 in North Lincolnshire and 28 in North East Lincolnshire.

On Friday, 17 deaths were registered in Lincolnshire and two 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 three new local hospital deaths at Northern Lincolnshire and Goole NHS Foundation Trust (NLAG) and two at United Lincolnshire Hospitals Trust. Some 36 hospital deaths have been recorded this week, compared to 51 last week.

On Friday, national cases increased by 29,079 to 3,772,813, while deaths rose by 1,245 to 104,371.

The COVID-19 vaccine has "very few side effects," and if you get some, it means the jab is working, a Lincolnshire health boss has said.

Professor Derek Ward, Director of Public Health for Lincolnshire County Council, also said he supports the longer vaccination gap between the first and second dose due to the second only adding an extra 5-10% immunity.

The rapid coronavirus testing centre at Lincoln City's LNER Stadium reopened on Friday morning and can remain operational until the end of February at the earliest, along with the other site in the city and two in Boston.

This week saw 90,000 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine administered in Lincolnshire so far.

Weekly data released on Thursday showed 87,400 jabs between December 8 and January 24, up by 37,767 in the last week.

The number of patients with coronavirus being treated at hospitals across Greater Lincolnshire dropped this week by just over 20%.

All of Lincolnshire's care homes received their first dose of vaccination this week after meeting their planned target of doing them by the weekend, according to local health bosses.

Another mass rapid testing centre opened on Croft Street off Monks Road for people with and without coronavirus symptoms after relocating from Lincoln City's LNER Stadium.

In national news today, a new coronavirus vaccine has been shown to be 89.3% effective in large-scale UK trials.

The Novavax jab is the first to show in trials that it is effective against the new virus variant found in the UK, the BBC'smedical editor Fergus Walsh said.

A single-shot vaccine developed by the healthcare giant Johnson & Johnson is 85% effective in preventing the most serious coronavirus symptoms, according to data from mass trials.

The company said its latest tests – carried out in several countries – also showed it was 66% effective overall at preventing moderate to severe COVID-19, 28 days after vaccination.

As of January 28, 7,891,184 people in the UK have received the first dose of a COVID vaccination, with a further 478,254 receiving the second jab.

The UK's coronavirus reproduction number (R number) – is between 0.7 and 1.1, according to the latest estimate.

The R refers to the number of people an infected person will pass COVID-19 on to and means for every 10 people infected, they will pass the virus on to between seven and 11 others.

On Wednesday, the Prime Minister said "it will not be possible to reopen schools" after the February half term, with the hope to bring pupils back from March 8.

Boris Johnson also told MPs that UK nationals and residents returning from "red list" countries will be placed in a 10-day quarantine in government-secured accommodation, such as hotels. Greater Lincolnshire's infection rate has fallen in the last week, with Friday showing a slight increase in just two districts: South Holland and Boston. South Kesteven remains in third place after being top of the table earlier this month. East Lindsey has fallen to the bottom of the Greater Lincolnshire leaderboard with an infection rate of just 94.5 per 100,000 people. Here's Greater Lincolnshire's infection rate over the last seven days up to January 29 according to the government dashboard: Coronavirus data for Greater Lincolnshire on Friday, January 29

47,547 cases (up 338)

33,349 in Lincolnshire (up 267)

7,280 in North Lincolnshire (up 43)

6,918 in North East Lincolnshire (up 28)

1,848 deaths (up 19)

1,334 from Lincolnshire (up 17)

281 from North Lincolnshire (up 2)

233 from North East Lincolnshire (no change)

of which 1,098 hospital deaths (up five)

675 at United Lincolnshire Hospitals Trust (up two)

33 at Lincolnshire Community Health Service hospitals (no change)

1 at Lincolnshire Partnership Foundation Trust (no change)

389 in Northern Lincolnshire (NLAG) (up three) 3,772,813 UK cases, 104,371 deaths