There were 639 new coronavirus cases in Greater Lincolnshire and 37 COVID-related deaths over the weekend.

The government's COVID-19 dashboard on Monday morning showed 526 new cases in Lincolnshire, 60 in North Lincolnshire and 53 in North East Lincolnshire.

Lincolnshire has surpassed 20,000 cases since the pandemic started. The figures also showed 37 new deaths, including 31 residents in Lincolnshire, five in North Lincolnshire and one in North East Lincolnshire. These are deaths both in and out of hospitals and those of residents in hospitals outside the county. NHS England reported 25 new hospital deaths over the weekend, with 20 at United Lincolnshire Hospitals Trust and five at Northern Lincolnshire and Goole NHS Foundation Trust. Nationally, cases increased by 39,948 to 1,849,403, while deaths rose by 664 to 64,170 over the weekend.

In local news, leader for South Holland District Council, Lord Gary Porter has said the district will stay in tier 3 come December 16, despite its infection rate being below the national average.

As of Sunday, December 13, South Holland's infection rate was 113.7 — England's average infection rate is 166.3.

North and North East Lincolnshire now have lower infection rates than the national average also. it's looking likely @SHollandDC will stay unjustly in T3 can I ask all our residents to carry on with the rules as best we can, we don't want you getting Covid just to have a go at HMG. But please @AlokSharma_RDG and @RishiSunak give our hurt businesses more £££ to see it through

— Gary Porter (@garyportercbe) December 13, 2020

Nationally, more than a dozen tier 2 areas are among the worst for coronavirus in England, while some tier 3 areas are now among the lowest, according to Sky News analysis. Half of these areas are in Greater London.

This comes as new tier allocations will be decided on December 16.

NHS bosses have warned that people must think "really carefully" about the risk of social contact over Christmas, when socialising rules will be relaxed for four days.

Chris Hopson, the head of NHS Providers, added that he was concerned about cases, deaths and infection rates come January.

However, this week, COVID-19 vaccinations will start being given to patients in GP surgeries in England as part of the next stage of the rollout programme. Some 100 practices will be distributing the jabs on Monday.

In Europe, Italy has overtaken the UK's death toll with more than 64,000 deaths since the pandemic started.

Coronavirus data for Greater Lincolnshire up to Sunday, December 13

31,084 cases (up 639)

20,208 in Lincolnshire (up 526)

5,281 in North Lincolnshire (up 60)

5,595 in North East Lincolnshire (up 53)

1,149 deaths (up 37)

776 from Lincolnshire (up 31)

194 from North Lincolnshire (up five)

179 from North East Lincolnshire (up one)

of which 696 hospital deaths (up 25)

386 at United Lincolnshire Hospitals Trust (up 20)

16 at Lincolnshire Community Health Service hospitals (up one)

1 at Lincolnshire Partnership Foundation Trust (no change)

293 in Northern Lincolnshire (NLAG) (up five) The UK has seen 1,849,403 cases and 64,170 deaths.