Four deaths with COVID-19 have been recorded in South Kesteven today.

Overall, Greater Lincolnshire recorded 218 new coronavirus cases and 13 COVID-related deaths.

The government's COVID-19 dashboard recorded 179 new cases in Lincolnshire, 21 in North Lincolnshire and 18 in North East Lincolnshire.

South Kesteven reported 46 cases today, putting it on 6112 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 376 cases over the past week, giving a rate of 264 cases per 100,000. This is a decrease from 278.7 recorded over the weekend.

The rate is below the England average of 281.9 cases per 100,000, which is also on a downward trend.

The number of deaths in South Kesteven increased by four today to 204. This means about on-in-70,000 will have died with Covid-19 since the pandemic started.

On Tuesday, 12 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 four new local hospital deaths at United Lincolnshire Hospitals Trust and one at Northern Lincolnshire and Goole NHS Foundation Trust (NLAG).

On Tuesday, national cases increased by 16,840 to 3,852,623 while deaths rose by 1,449 to 108,013.

The first patients received their jabs as the county's second largest coronavirus vaccination centre opened at Lincolnshire Showground on Tuesday morning.

COVID-19 vaccinations will be provided from the new EXO Centre at Lincolnshire Showground, starting with people aged over 70.

It is now open daily between 8am and 8pm and can deliver around 1,000 doses a day — by invitation only.

This comes as over 10 million coronavirus vaccines have been given in the UK so far. Large employers in Lincolnshire could be asked to carry out asymptomatic rapid COVID testing as part of a planned package of government and council support. Lincolnshire County Council is hoping the government will approve a new protocol which will allow partner organisations to set up their own lateral flow rapid testing sites. In national news, Captain Sir Tom Moore has died with coronavirus. The 100-year-old, who raised almost £33m for the NHS, was taken to Bedford Hospital after requiring help with his breathing on Sunday. People in areas that have been singled out for enhanced testing for the South African variant should further limit the time they spend away from home, a minister has said. Universities minister Michelle Donelan said those affected should be "thinking twice about their actions". Delaying the second dose of the Pfizer jab – the current government strategy – may leave some elderly patients at risk of infection by the South African variant, new research suggests. Lab tests by scientists at Cambridge University showed that one dose of the vaccine may not stimulate the immune system to produce enough antibodies to kill the virus. A mutation of the Kent COVID variant that has been detected in some samples could help the virus evade the immune system, scientists have found. The mutation, which has been labelled E484K, has also been found in the South African variant of the coronavirus.