Falling figures in the rest of the county has helped put South Kesteven top of the table for Covid-19 cases.

Today official government figures show 245 new coronavirus cases and 11 COVID-related deaths across Greater Lincolnshire on Thursday.

There were 177 new cases in Lincolnshire, 42 in North Lincolnshire and 26 in North East Lincolnshire.

Among the districts, South Kesteven reported 45 cases today, putting it on 6196 since the start of the pandemic. This means about one person in 25 in the district have a recorded case since the start of the pandemic.

The district is experiencing a downward trend with it 361 cases over the past week, giving a rate of 253.5 cases per 100,000. This is a decrease from 278.7 recorded over the weekend.

This is just below the England average of 260.6 cases per 100,000, which is also on a downward trend. But with other district declining faster, South Kesteven now has the highest 7-day rate in Lincolnshire.

The number of deaths in South Kesteven increased by five today to 213, following an increase of four yesterday. This means about on-in-70,000 in the district will have died with Covid-19 since the pandemic started.

On Thursday, 10 deaths were registered in Lincolnshire and one 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 six new local hospital deaths on Thursday, including four at United Lincolnshire Hospitals Trust and two at Northern Lincolnshire and Goole NHS Foundation Trust (NLAG).

On Thursday, national cases increased by 20,634 to 3,892,459, while deaths rose by 915 to 110,250.

The latest NHS England figures show that nearly 130,000 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been administered in Lincolnshire.

The weekly data released on Thursday shows 127,606 jabs between December 8 and January 31 – up by 40,206 on last week.

The data doesn't include the new vaccination centre at the Lincolnshire Showground opened on Tuesday, which aims to do over 1,000 doses a day.

Students and staff now have access to two lateral flow (rapid) coronavirus tests a week at the University of Lincoln's asymptomatic testing centre.

A testing programme took place in a marquee outside the university's sports hall where asymptomatic students and staff could voluntarily book a test, between November 30 and December 9 last year.

Adult and social care services in Lincolnshire have been placed under "immense pressure" and "really struggled" since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Lincolnshire County Council has confirmed that 60 more children are now in care than at the beginning of the epidemic, an increase of 10%. There are roughly 4,000 variants of COVID-19 around the world, according to the UK vaccines minister, who said the British government was storing the mutations so it was better prepared to update vaccines as needed. Nadhim Zahawi told Sky News there was a "library" of coronavirus mutations being stored to make sure the UK could respond appropriately. England's economy will be unlocked gradually after the hoped-for return of schools at the start of March, the vaccines minister has told Sky News. Nadhim Zahawi gave an insight into what Prime Minister Boris Johnson's promised roadmap out of lockdown, earmarked to be announced on 22 February, will look like. International travel had the biggest impact on COVID death rates for countries hit in the pandemic's first wave, a study has found. Researchers in Aberdeen focused on the world's worst affected 37 countries. They found an increase of one million international arrivals was associated with a 3.4% rise in the mean daily increase in COVID-19 deaths. Coronavirus data for Greater Lincolnshire on Thursday, February 4

49,046 cases (up 245)

34,517 in Lincolnshire (up 177)

7,471 in North Lincolnshire (up 42)

7,058 in North East Lincolnshire (up 26)

1,915 deaths (up 11)

1,393 from Lincolnshire (up 10)

285 from North Lincolnshire (up one)

237 from North East Lincolnshire (no change)

of which 1,132 hospital deaths (up six)

701 at United Lincolnshire Hospitals Trust (up four)

35 at Lincolnshire Community Health Service hospitals (no change)

1 at Lincolnshire Partnership Foundation Trust (no change)

395 in Northern Lincolnshire (NLAG) (up two) 3,892,459 UK cases, 110,250 deaths