There have been 238 new coronavirus cases and five COVID-related deaths in Greater Lincolnshire on Monday as the PM announced his roadmap out of lockdown.

The government's COVID-19 dashboard recorded 172 new cases in Lincolnshire, 41 in North East Lincolnshire and 25 in North Lincolnshire.

Among the districts, South Kesteven recorded 32 cases today, putting it on 6708, equivalent to almost one case for each district resident.

Over the past seven days, the district has recorded 179 cases, which compares with a low of 155 in the week to Thursday. In the days before then, the numbers were falling rapidly.

The 7-day rate for South Kesteven is now 125.7 cases per 100,000, which is slightly above the England average of 125.1, which maintained its downward trend.

This means about one in 800 South Kesteven residents will have tested positive with the virus over the past week, according to the government's UK Covid-19 tracker.

Today, South Kesteven recorded one death, giving a grand total of 245, about one in 600 of the district's population.

Overall, Five deaths were registered in Lincolnshire and none in Northern Lincolnshire today. These figures include deaths both in and out of hospitals, as well as residents in hospitals outside the county.

NHS England reported one new local hospital death at Northern Lincolnshire and Goole NHS Foundation Trust, down from four last Monday.

National cases increased by 10,641 to 4,126,150, while deaths rose by 178 to 120,757. This comes as over 17.7 million received their first COVID vaccine dose.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has announced his roadmap out of the third lockdown which will start with schools opening on March 8 and non-essential shops open by April 12.

The PM hopes the UK will be completely out of lockdown by July, as long as vaccination progress is successful.

Community "rapid" testing for COVID-19 in the Boston area will continue throughout March because of extra funding, it has been announced.

People without coronavirus symptoms are currently being urged to get a test at the Peter Paine Performance Centre or Haven High Tollfield Campus in the town.

In other news, the COVID-19 vaccines being used in the UK could reduce a person's risk of being admitted to hospital by as much as 94% four weeks after the first dose, new data suggests.

Experts examined coronavirus hospital admissions in Scotland among people who have had their first jab and compared them to those who had not yet received a vaccine.

England's coronavirus vaccine campaign is significantly reducing cases of COVID-19, with a drop of around 70% in infections among healthcare workers who have had a first dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech shot, British health officials said on Monday.

The Greater Lincolnshire average infection rate (IR) is back at the same number it was on Friday 122.2.

Similarly, North Kesteven has also reverted back to it's Friday IR number of 121.5. Five of the nine districts have been a rise in infection rates over the weekend, with just Boston, North Lincolnshire and East Lindsey seeing falls, despite Boston being the highest in the county. The England average has seen a steady fall over the last week and over the weekend. Coronavirus data for Greater Lincolnshire on Monday, February 22

52,438 cases (up 238)

37,011 in Lincolnshire (up 172)

7,905 in North Lincolnshire (up 25)

7,522 in North East Lincolnshire (up 41)

2,045 deaths (up five)

1,501 from Lincolnshire (up five)

297 from North Lincolnshire (no change)

247 from North East Lincolnshire (no change)

of which 1,206 hospital deaths (up one)

748 at United Lincolnshire Hospitals Trust (no change)

41 at Lincolnshire Community Health Service hospitals (no change)

1 at Lincolnshire Partnership Foundation Trust (no change)

416  in Northern Lincolnshire (NLAG) (up one) 4,126,150 UK cases, 120,757 deaths