South Kesteven's 7-day infection rate has stabilised at a quarter of the England average.

The district recorded five cases today, following five over the weekend.

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

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

Nationally, deaths increased by one today, the same as last Monday, a Bank Holiday. Case numbers were 5683 today compared with 3,383 last Monday.

South Kesteven now has a 7-day case rate of 10.5 cases per 100,000, based on a recorded 15 cases, which compares with the England average of 40.6, which is rising slowly.

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 7665 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, there have been 63 coronavirus cases in Greater Lincolnshire and no COVID-related deaths on Monday, up from 18 cases and no deaths last Monday.

The government's COVID-19 dashboard recorded 37 new cases in Lincolnshire, 15 in North East Lincolnshire and 11 in North Lincolnshire.

No coronavirus deaths were registered on Monday. These figures include deaths both in and out of hospitals, as well as residents in hospitals outside the county.

However, NHS England reported one new hospital death on Monday at United Lincolnshire Hospitals Trust, the first Greater Lincolnshire hospital death in 11 days.

Since Friday, Greater Lincolnshire has seen an infection rate fall overall, but North East Lincolnshire's rates have more than doubled over the weekend from 11.3 to 23.2 per 100,000 of the population.

North Lincolnshire and North Kesteven have also seen increases in their rates with all the other districts seeing a fall.

England's infection rate is nearly three times that of Greater Lincolnshire's and has seen further rises over the weekend.

In national news, COVID vaccinations will be opened up to those under 30 this week as the government moves forward with the next stage in its immunisation programme.

People aged 25-29 will be able to book in for their vaccination from tomorrow (Tuesday) morning as the government marks six months since the programme began.

However, health secretary Matt Hancock said it was "still too early" to decide on whether to delay the next stage in easing lockdown restrictions on June 21, promising instead to make an announcement on Monday, June 14.

British holidaymakers in Portugal are rushing back home before the country is added to the UK's travel amber list amid concerns about rising COVID cases.

From 04:00 BST on Tuesday Portugal will be dropped from the green list, and returnees made to self-isolate for 10 days and take two PCR tests.

Coronavirus data for Greater Lincolnshire on Monday, June 7

9,798 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)

4,522,476 UK cases, 127,841 deaths