South Kesteven has recorded its ninth Covid-related fatality of August.

The death, recorded over the weekend, follows two deaths recorded in the district on Thursday, and one on Tuesday.

There was also one Covid-linked fatality last Friday, one the Monday before and one the weekend prior to that.

With fatalities also recorded on August 1 and August 3, the number of deaths with Covid in the district is now 9 in this month alone.

Before these latest fatalities, the previous Covid-related deaths in the district were reported on May 5 and March 25, giving us 11 deaths in about 5 months.

It means since the pandemic started, official government figures record 279 fatalities in South Kesteven within 28 days of a positive test for Covid-19.

The total amounts to 194.8 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.

Over the weekend, there were 118 cases of Covid-19 recorded, compared with 82 on Friday, 77 on Thursday, 156 last weekend and 132 the weekend before.

The current weekly rate of 365.2 cases per 100,000 is down on the 370.2 of Friday, up on the 358.9 cases per 100,000 of Thursday, but close to a post-winter high of 374.2 recorded last Monday,

It was 365.9 last Sunday and 329.6 the Sunday before that.

With its fluctuations, South Kesteven now has a higher 7-day infection rate than both Lincolnshire's 343.1 and England's 326.3, whose growth has been slower but more consistent, though the national figure was at 332 on Friday.

Overall, since the pandemic started, South Kesteven has recorded 11,321 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 950,000 a day or 5.5 million over a week nationally.

Nationally, there were 33,196 positive tests recorded yesterday, giving a total of 240,528 over the week, an increase of 13,137 (5.8%) over the week before.

There were 61 deaths within 28 days of positive test reported yesterday, giving a total of 797 over the week, an increase of 110 or 16% over the previous week.

Some 969 were admitted to hospital yesterday, making it 6,294 over the week, an increase of 397 (6.7%) over the previous week.