Rutland has again recorded no deaths and no cases of Covid-19 today.

The double zero follows the county yesterday recording its first death in about 5 weeks. It is about the third such day in the past couple of weeks.

In the past week 11 cases have been recorded, with the grand total number of cases since the pandemic also remaining at 1660- about one in 25 of Rutland's population.

The 7-day case rate for Rutland remains at 27.6 cases per 100,000, which compares with the England average of 24.5.

This is well down on the peak earlier this year, which reached into the 400s for cases per 100,000 of population.

The number of deaths at 62, amounts to about one fatality in 700 residents, which compares to the England average of one-in-500.

Meanwhile in Lincolnshire, just six cases of Covid-19 were recorded in South Kesteven, fuelling a further decline its seven day infection rate.

Over the past week, the district has recorded 22 cases, compared with 47 in the week to last Thursday and 65 in the week before that.

This gives South Kesteven a 7-day infection rate of 15.4 cases per 100,000, which is well below the England average of 24.5.

This is the lowest since last year and less than a tenth of figures earlier in the year when at times it exceeded 400 cases per 100,000.

Overall, South Kesteven has seen 7540 recorded cases since the start of the pandemic- which is about one for every 20 residents.

The number of deaths has remained at 266 for about three weeks. This means that around one-in-600 residents have died within 28 days of a positive test since the pandemic started, which compares with an England average of one-in-500.

Overall, there have been 63 new coronavirus cases and two COVID-related deaths in Greater Lincolnshire on Thursday, compared to 53 cases and no deaths this time last week.

The government's COVID-19 dashboard recorded 41 new cases in Lincolnshire, 21 in North Lincolnshire and one in North East Lincolnshire.

On Thursday, one death was registered in Lincolnshire and one in North Lincolnshire. These figures include deaths both in and out of hospitals, as well as residents in hospitals outside the county.

National cases increased by 2,445 to 4,414,242, while deaths rose by 22 to 127,502.

In national news, Heathrow's chief executive has said he is "deeply concerned" the UK's Border Force will not be able to cope with additional COVID checks if all foreign travel resumes from May 17.

John Holland-Kaye told Sky News the Home Office and UK Border Force "need to get a grip" on the checks or change the system ahead of that date – when the government is hoping to allow people to go on holiday again.