There was another slight increase in Coronavirus cases in South Kesteven again today as nine cases were recorded today to add to the six recorded yesterday.

This means the 7-day rate for South Kesteven is now 42.1 cases per 100,000 of population, which is still less than half of the England 7-day case rate of 98.4.

Meanwhile Rutland has again reported a rise in Coronavirus cases with another 7 cases reported today.

Once again, there were zero deaths.

The increase in cases today, added to the 8 cases yesterday, sees the county's 7-day rate rise to 57.6 cases per 100,000 compared with 52.6 cases yesterday.

This is still well below the England's 7-day rate of 98.4 cases per 100,000.

There have been 201 new coronavirus cases in Greater Lincolnshire on Wednesday — more than double last Wednesday's figures (103% rise from 99) – and the highest daily count since February.

The government's COVID-19 dashboard on Wednesday recorded 90 new cases in Lincolnshire, 91 in North East Lincolnshire and 20 in North Lincolnshire.

The daily cases number is the highest since February 25 when 263 cases were confirmed, however, March 10 also came close with 200 cases confirmed.

However, both the dashboard and NHS figures reported no further deaths across the region.

Nationally on Wednesday, cases increased by 16,135 to 4,667,870, while a further 19 deaths took the tally to 128,027. The case tally is the highest number of daily infections nationally since February 6, when 18,262 were announced. A coronavirus lateral flow testing site in Grantham will close later this month as more people turn to home testing. The site has tested more than 360 people since it opened at the Meres Leisure Centre on February 25. Meanwhile, just under a thousand patients are still waiting for treatment for more than a year, as just one COVID-positive patient remains in Lincolnshire's hospitals. United Lincolnshire Hospitals Trust deputy chief executive Mark Brassington told Lincolnshire County Council's Health Scrutiny Committee on Wednesday that the trust had seen a peak of 2,000 patients waiting for treatment during the COVID-19 pandemic, but that has now more than halved. Nationally, 41 cases of a new "Delta Plus" variant have been confirmed in the UK. The new variant, which is causing problems in India, is believed to have increased transmissibility, stronger binding in receptors of lung cells and potential reduction in monoclonal antibody response. UK travel bosses have held a day of action and called for government to reopen the sector. They say what's left of the summer season needs to be saved, not just for holiday makers but to protect 195,000 travel jobs currently at risk as a result of the COVID pandemic. The UK gave out 299,837 first doses of COVID vaccines Tuesday – the highest number in nearly three months. A total of 75,188,795 doses have been given overall including 43,448,680 first doses and 31,740,115 second doses. Coronavirus data for Greater Lincolnshire on Wednesday, June 23 62,198 cases (up 201)

• 42,909 in Lincolnshire (up 90)
• 9,912 in North Lincolnshire (up 20)
• 9,377 in North East Lincolnshire (up 91)

2,195 deaths (no change)

• 1,622 from Lincolnshire (no change)
• 302 from North Lincolnshire (no change)
• 271 from North East Lincolnshire (no change)

of which 1,313 hospital deaths (no change)

• 816 at United Lincolnshire Hospitals Trust (no change)
• 42 at Lincolnshire Community Health Service hospitals (no change)
• 1 at Lincolnshire Partnership Foundation Trust (no change)
• 454 in Northern Lincolnshire (NLAG) (no change)

4,651,988 UK cases, 128,008 deaths