South Kesteven recorded no deaths today but there were 80 cases reported.

This follows the district recording two fatalities since the weekend and six deaths in almost five months.

But the 7-day case rate has dropped a little, despite South Kesteven recording 80 cases today.

New Zealand, incidentally, is back in lockdown, after just one case was recorded in Auckland, the country's first in six months. Both the North and South Islands- an area as big as Britain with a-fourteenth of the population- will be affected by the nationwide lockdown.

Today's 78 positive tests in South Kesteven compares with 78 yesterday, 76 last Tuesday and 41 the Tuesday before.

The 7-day rate, however, has dropped from a Sunday-Monday peak of 329.6 cases per 100 to today's 326.1 cases per 100,000, which is an increase on the 317 on Friday.

This compares with 294.6 cases per 100,000 last Tuesday, 227.5 the Tuesday before and 271.7 the Tuesday before that.

This compares with an England average of 305.5 cases per 100,000 of population, which has steadily and consistently grown in recent weeks, reaching a recent peak of 306.4 yesterday whilst South Kesteven has fluctuated a little.

Overall, since the pandemic started, the district has recorded 10,434 positive tests - about one case for each 14 residents. Again, this is better than the England average, which is almost one case for every ten people.

The figures come amid much testing, currently running around 700,000 a day or 5.3 million over a week.

Prior to the three fatatities of the past few days, the previous Covid-related deaths in the district took place on May 5 and March 25, giving us six deaths in almost 5 months.

It means since the pandemic started, official government figures record 274 fatalities within 28 days of a positive test for Covid-19.

The total amounts to 191.3 deaths per 100,000, which is equivalent to one fatality for just over 500 residents. The England average is one death for just under 500 residents.

Across Lincolnshire, 332 cases today, compared with 373 yesterday, 726 cases over the weekend and 373 on Friday.

This gives a grand total of 59,508 cases since the start of the pandemic, an increase of 2,635 over the past week.

The 7-day case rate is now 343.8, down on the 350.8 yesterday.

This is higher than the England and South Kesteven averages.

The number of recorded deaths increased 1 to 1651 today, which follows on from 3 yesterday, 4 over the weekend, 3 on Friday and 4 on Thursday.

Nationally, 170 deaths were recorded today, compared with 26 yesterday, 61 over the weekend and 100 on Friday. This gives a total over the week of 648 over the week, an increase of 26 or 4.2 % over the week.

The total number of UK deaths now stands at 131,149.

Today, 26,852 cases were recorded, down from the 28,438 positive tests recorded yesterday, giving a total of 206,946 over the week, an increase of 10,899 or 5.6 per cent over the week before.

The number of hospital admissions is recorded as 773 today, compared with 882 yesterday and 880 on Sunday, amounting to an increase of 206 or 3.9 per cent over the past week.