The 7-day case rate for South Kesteven has increased again, to its highest since late April, but the district's rate is still below a third the national average.

And it is still more than a month since South Kesteven recorded a single death with Covid-19.

South Kesteven recorded 22 cases today, compared with 29 yesterday and 27 on Wednesday.

Last Friday 12 tested positive, with 13 testing positive the Friday before.

Overall, some 80 cases have been recorded over the past week compared to 74 in the week to yesterday, 57 in the week to last Friday and 50 in the week before that.

This gives South Kesteven a 7-day case rate of 56.2 cases per 100,000, which is less than a third of the England average of 172.8.

The England average 7-day rate has steadily risen in recent weeks, while the South Kesteven figure has tended to fluctuate at a much reduced level before creeping upwards.

No deaths were recorded again and the number since the start of the pandemic remains at 270. The last fatality in the district was over a month ago, with two fatalities in just over two months.

Overall, across Greater Lincolnshire, there have been 1,623 cases of coronavirus confirmed so far this week – up 108.61% on the 778 at this point last week.

The government's COVID-19 dashboard on Friday reported 162 new cases in Lincolnshire, 188 in North East Lincolnshire and 51 in North Lincolnshire for a total of 401 today.

In positive news, the figures showed no further deaths of in the government or NHS England data today.

Both, however, have reported one further death each earlier this week, meaning the tally is equal to last week.

Both deaths and hospitalisations have remained low throughout the rising numbers the past few weeks.

June saw 3,185 cases confirmed, more than triple that of May's 1,008 cases.

However, government recorded deaths – which include those outside of hospitals and only residents of each region – only tallied one for the entire month of June, while the NHS recorded four in Greater Lincolnshire Hospitals, down from six and seven respectively in May.

It comes as vaccination levels continue to rise, with more than 85% of the county now having their first dose and nearly 70% their second.

Younger people, the latest to be made eligible for vaccines and therefore the most common to be infected now, are being urged to take up their jab as soon as possible to bring numbers down again.

According to national data, more than 45 million adults in the UK have now been vaccinated with a first dose, thanks to a hugely encouraging rapid uptake from young people.

With 78,254,768 doses administered in total, 45,013,503 people across the UK have now been vaccinated with a first dose (85.5%), while 33,241,265 people have had both doses (63.1%), giving them the fullest possible protection.

Nationally, cases today increased by 27,125 to 4,855,169 while deaths rose by 27 to 128,189.

On Friday, Lincolnshire health bosses said that "the sooner we can move to daily testing in schools, the better to stop children missing out on education".

It comes amid a national debate over whether close contacts of positive cases in schools should be forced into isolation.

In the last couple of weeks, at any one time, between 30-40 schools and universities in the county have been receiving support after at least one positive case, said Lincolnshire County Council's director of public health Professor Derek Ward.

Nationally, the R number in England, defined by SAGE, has fallen to between 1.1 to 1.3, meaning that on average every 10 people infected will go on to infect between 11 and 13 other people.

Data from Public Health England has shown that cases of the Delta variant have risen by 46%, accounting for 95% of all confirmed cases.

However, despite the spike, hospitalisations nationally are not rising at a similar rate.

Researchers believe the UK is experiencing a "Mexican wave" of COVID with infections moving from west to east.

According to Sky News, Professor Tim Spector, co-founder of the ZOE COVID symptom study, said holiday destinations were partly to blame.

The broadcaster has also reported that a new study has found the Johnson and Johnson single-shot vaccine has shown "significant promise" against the Delta variant and effectively "neutralises" it.

Coronavirus data for Greater Lincolnshire on Friday, July 2

10,108 in North Lincolnshire (up 57)

302 from North Lincolnshire (no change)

43 at Lincolnshire Community Health Service hospitals (no change)

454 in Northern Lincolnshire (NLAG) (no change)

4,828,463 UK cases, 128,162 deaths