South Kesteven has reported a few days of declining case numbers but it still remains Lincolnshire's Covid-19 hotspot.

The district recorded 87 cases on Saturday and 48 yesterday, giving the district a tally of 4784 cases since the start of the pandemic. This amounts to about on-in-30 of its residents succumbing to the virus at some stage.

In the week to yesterday, South Kesteven recorded 558 cases, which compares with 602 cases in the week to Sunday.

This gives South Kesteven a 7-day rate of 391.8 cases per 100,000 of population. Yesterday, the figure was 422.7 per 100,000, and on Saturday it peaked on 450.1 cases per 100,000 based on the 641 cases in the 7 days until then.

Today's figure of 391.8 per 100,000 compares with an England average of 629.3 cases per 100,000, a decline from the 650.3 rate recorded yesterday. It is also South Kesteven's lowest 7-day rate in almost a week.

The district recorded one death yesterday and three on Saturday, giving a total of 142 deaths of people with Covid-19 since the start of the pandemic.

Overall, there have been 278 new coronavirus cases and seven COVID-related deaths in Greater Lincolnshire on Monday.

The government's COVID-19 dashboard recorded 232 new cases in Lincolnshire, 23 in North Lincolnshire and 23 in North East Lincolnshire.

Seven deaths were registered in Lincolnshire and none in North or North East (Northern) 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 at United Lincolnshire Hospitals Trust on Monday.

National cases increased by 46,169 to 3,118,518, while deaths rose by 529 to 81,960.

Rapid COVID-19 testing will be introduced in Lincoln and Boston, the districts with the second and third highest infection rates in Lincolnshire after South Kesteven.

These tests should take less than 15 minutes to administer, and results should appear in under an hour. The centre at Lincoln City's stadium opened Monday.

However, there are still a few areas in Lincolnshire without a COVID-19 vaccine centre. In South Kesteven, there is a centre in Grantham.

Local elections set to take place in May could be delayed, some for a second time, due to fears over the spread of coronavirus.

Government bosses are concerned over the practicalities of holding the elections during the pandemic because of public safety fears, social distancing and the capacity of venues to host voters.

In national news, Health Secretary Matt Hancock said in Downing Street's press conference: "Please do your bit and help keep the NHS strong."

This comes as more than 2.6 million coronavirus doses have been administered across the UK to nearly 2.3 million people, but the NHS remains overwhelmed.

Boris Johnson has warned the government "may have to do more" if ministers feel lockdown rules "are not being properly observed" – such as greater enforcement of social distancing.

A government minister said rules are "not boundaries to be pushed against", as he admitted there was concern at non-compliance with social distancing measures in supermarkets.

Earlier today, Professor Chris Whitty, England's chief medical officer revealed the UK will go through the "most dangerous time" of the pandemic in the weeks before vaccine rollout has an impact.

He added the next few weeks will be "the worst" of the pandemic for the NHS.

Coronavirus data for Greater Lincolnshire on Monday, January 11

6,674 in North Lincolnshire (up 23)

255 from North Lincolnshire (no change)

24 at Lincolnshire Community Health Service hospitals (no change)

346 in Northern Lincolnshire (NLAG) (no change)

3,118,518 UK cases, 81,960 deaths