A recorded death with Covid-19 today means South Kesteven has suffered its third death in a week.

In addition to today's fatality, deaths were recorded on Monday and last weekend.

Prior to this week's three fatalities, the previous Covid-related deaths in the district were reported on August 3, August 1, May 5 and March 25, giving us seven deaths in almost 5 months.

It means since the pandemic started, official government figures record 275 fatalities in South Kesteven within 28 days of a positive test for Covid-19.

The total amounts to 192 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.

Today, South Kesteven recorded 83 positive tests, compared with 59 yesterday and 89 on Wednesday, 64 last Friday and 85 the Friday before.

This has pushed the weekly rate to its highest this month. Despite fluctuations, the rate seems to be increasing, but it remains below the Lincolnshire average, though above the UK's.

After falling from a weekend peak of 329.6 cases per 100,000 to 318.4 on Wednesday, it now stands at 338.6, the highest since Friday July 23 when it stood at 353.9.

This compares with 317 last Friday and 248.6 the Friday before that.

This compares with an England average of 310.4 cases per 100,000 of population, which has steadily grown in recent weeks.

Overall, since the pandemic started, South Kesteven has recorded 10,663 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 800,000 a day or 5.2 million over a week nationally.

Overall, there have been 2,781 cases of Coronavirus in Greater Lincolnshire so far this week, as Lincolnshire marks a choppy month since "Freedom Day".

Government figures published on Friday afternoon showed 387 new cases in Lincolnshire, 90 in North East Lincolnshire and 80 in North Lincolnshire. The total is a 34.20% drop on on the 4,227 cases confirmed to last Friday.

The figures showed 12 deaths in Greater Lincolnshire in the past seven days, with six in Lincolnshire, five in North East Lincolnshire and one in North Lincolnshire.

Meanwhile, NHS figures have showed a total of four deaths in hospitals this week, with two each at United Lincolnshire Hospitals Trust and two at Northern Lincolnshire and Goole NHS Trust.

National cases increased by 37,314 to 6,429,147, while deaths rose by 114 to 131,487.

It's been just over a month since Freedom Day and Lincolnshire has had somewhat of a "challenging" time since the majority of COVID-19 restrictions were lifted on July 19.

Lincolnshire County Council's deputy director of public health, Andy Fox, said the past few weeks – which saw the county's capital become one of the UK's coronavirus hotspots – had been "really interesting".

He said: "It demonstrates how quickly things can change and how volatile the situation is at the moment. What it's telling us is that COVID's going to be around for a long time.

"We have moved into a different stage of the pandemic, where instead of seeing these big increases and big decreases, we're just going to see a high background level of COVID-19 circulating with some volatility, with some ups and downs.

"People need to be aware that this is not over, COVID-19 is out there and it's circulating, we still need to take all the steps that we can to protect ourselves and others."

Meanwhile, the national Grab a Jab website appears to be having issues not showing the venues that are available for booking in Lincolnshire, but there are several offering walk-in opportunities for coronavirus vaccinations this weekend and beyond.

This comes as letters have started to arrive inviting 16 to 17-year-olds to get their coronavirus vaccine. There are walk-in opportunities available in Lincolnshire for people aged 16 and over on a 'first come, first served' basis.

Nationally latest figures show that one in 80 people in England have COVID in the community. The Office for National Statistics said 698,100 people within the community in England had COVID-19 in the week ending 14 August. The week prior it was one in 75.

England's R number – which represents the number of people each case will pass the virus on to – has risen to between 0.9 and 1.2.

Coronavirus data for Greater Lincolnshire on Friday, August 20

14,352 in North Lincolnshire (up 80)

307 from North Lincolnshire (no change)

44 at Lincolnshire Community Health Service hospitals (no change)

474 in Northern Lincolnshire (NLAG) (up one)

6,429,147 UK cases, 131,487 deaths