South Kesteven has gone 5 weeks without a Covid-19 related death.

The district has recorded a further drop in its 7- day infection rate.

But a change today in how the numbers are calculated, prevent a meaningful comparison with yesterday.

The published 7-day infection rate now stands at 11.2 cases per 100,000, based on 16 recorded cases.

This is about half the England average of 21.2 cases per 100,000 today and less than half the 25.3 South Kesteven's 7-day case rate was a week ago.

South Kesteven now has a now total of 7599 cases since the start of the pandemic, which compares with 7612 yesterday.

Whilst the figures fluctuate, the latest figures remain among the lowest since last year and around a thirtieth of figures earlier in the year when the weekly rate exceeded 400 cases per 100,000.

The number of deaths has remained at 266 for 5 weeks now. This means that around one-in-600 residents have died within 28 days of a positive test since the pandemic started, which compares with an England average of one-in-500.

Overall, there have been 11 days since a COVID-related death was recorded in Greater Lincolnshire, and the government dashboard has removed 85 additional cases in our region due to a new system of measurements.

The government's COVID-19 dashboard recorded -51 cases in Lincolnshire, -20 in North Lincolnshire and -14 in North East Lincolnshire, as national numbers of newly reported cases have been adjusted and reflect new cases reported.

NHS England reported no new local deaths in hospitals across Greater Lincolnshire.

On Tuesday, national cases increased by 2,412 to 4,450,392, while deaths rose by seven to 127,691.

In local news, cases of the Indian variant in Lincolnshire remain low but health bosses say it will one day become the dominant strain like the Kent variant did.

Authority bosses are trying to temper concerns around the vaccine and reassure people it is safe, in a bid to get as many people to get the jab as possible.

In national news, it will be a few days before the government can draw any conclusions about whether to deviate from England's current roadmap out of lockdown, the prime minister has said.

The government plans to end the remaining legal limits on social contact in England from June 21.

A further 106,733 people in the UK had a first dose of a coronavirus vaccine on Monday, taking the total to 36,811,405.

Another 259,049 received their second jab on Monday, meaning 20,546,452 have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 in the UK.