South Kesteven has recorded its first Covid-related death in more than 3 weeks.

The district also recorded just two cases today, with a further drop in its 7-day infection rate.

The two cases today compares with five recorded last Tuesday.

It means that the district has recorded 7456 cases in total- about one for every 20 residents.

In the past week, South Kesteven has recorded 65 cases, compared with 122 in the week to last Tuesday. A few days prior to last Tuesday, the district reached a spike of 179 cases over a week.

The 7-day infection rate today stands at 45.6 cases per 100,000 of population, which compares with an England average of 27.4, which has enjoyed a much more consistent decline this year.

Today, South Kesteven recorded its first death linked to Covid in more than three weeks.

The total of 266 since the start of the pandemic means that around one-in-600 South Kesteven residents will have died withing 28 days of a positive test for the virus.

This is better than the England average of one-in-500 residents.

Overall today, there have been 50 new coronavirus cases and three COVID-related deaths in Greater Lincolnshire on Tuesday — compared to 58 cases and no deaths this time last week.

The government's COVID-19 dashboard recorded 26 new cases in Lincolnshire, 19 in North Lincolnshire and five in North East Lincolnshire.

On Tuesday, three deaths were registered in Lincolnshire, none in North East Lincolnshire and -1 in North Lincolnshire. Fluctuations in data are usually due to some deaths in those areas being reallocated to other regions across the UK or a miscount. These figures include deaths both in and out of hospitals, as well as residents in hospitals outside the county.

NHS England has reported two new local hospital deaths at United Lincolnshire Hospitals Trust hospitals.

On Tuesday, national cases increased by 2,472 to 4,375,814, while deaths rose by 23 to 127,123.

In local news, people aged over 45 can now book their COVID vaccinations on the NHS website after the government reached its target of offering a first dose to the nine most vulnerable groups.

There were recently some technical difficulties for people accessing the NHS website, but vaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi said the issues have been fixed – book a vaccine online here and find out if you are eligible.

Over the weekend, Greater Lincolnshire's infection rate has fallen, with a spike in Boston only.

Similarly, the England average has also seen a drop in infections, but still remains nearly half of Greater Lincolnshire's rates.

Lincoln has dropped by more than half over the weekend and now has one of the smallest rates in the UK, with just 9.1 per 100,000 of the population infected with COVID-19.

In national news, Boris Johnson has warned that the reduction in coronavirus infections, hospitalisations and deaths "has not been achieved" by the rollout of COVID vaccines.

The prime minister, speaking the day after the latest easing of lockdown restrictions, instead said it was the national shutdown that had been "overwhelmingly important" in driving down COVID rates.

England is giving out its first doses of the Moderna jab, the third COVID-19 vaccine in the nation's rollout.

It will be available at 21 sites, included the Madejski Stadium in Reading and the Sheffield Arena.

Along with the Pfizer jab, it offers an alternative to the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine for under-30s, after concerns about a possible link to very rare blood clots.

Coronavirus data for Greater Lincolnshire on Tuesday, April 13

58,772 cases (up 50)

40,935 in Lincolnshire (up 26)

8,592 in North East Lincolnshire (up five)

2,184 deaths (up three)

1,613 from Lincolnshire (up three)

268 from North East Lincolnshire (no change)

of which 1,302 hospital deaths (up two)

810 at United Lincolnshire Hospitals Trust (up two)

1 at Lincolnshire Partnership Foundation Trust (no change)