No deaths and no cases were recorded today in Rutland, according to official government figures.

Despite the good news, how the government measures figures over a week, saw the weekly number increase from 18 cases in the week to yesterday to 22 today. A low of 11 cases a week was reached almost three weeks ago.

Rutland's seven day case rate, which now stands at 55.1 cases per 100,000, is just above the England average of 41 cases per 100,000, which has consistently fallen.

Overall, the county has recorded 1640 cases, which is equivalent to one for every 25 residents.

The number of those dying within 28 days of testing positive with Covid-19 remains at 61, with the county not experiencing a death with Covid in about a fortnight.

The county's death rate is about one-in-700 of the population, which is far better than the England average of one-in-500.

Meanwhile, in Lincolnshire , Easter Tuesday has recorded a further drop in the South Kesteven 7-day case rate, with just five cases reported in the district today.

Today's numbers fuels hopes that a 'spike' of cases in South Kesteven may be ending, with a large drop in the 7-day infection rate already underway.

After more than doubling in recent weeks, the number of cases recorded over a week have headed back down.

In the week to yesterday, the number of cases over 7 days was 122, compared with 137 in the week to Monday and 158 in the week to Friday. A low of 80 was recorded about three weeks ago.

South Kesteven now has a 7-day case rate of 85.2 cases per 100,000, but it remains more than double the England average of 41, which has been consistent in its decline.

Today saw 5 cases recorded, compared to 14 on Easter Monday, 15 over the weekend and 22 last Tuesday.

This gives a grand total of 7416- about one for every 20 residents.

The number of deaths remained at 265, with South Kesteven recording just lower than the England average of one death with Covid-19 for every 500 residents since the pandemic started.

The district has gone without a death with Covid-19 in almost 2 weeks.

Across Greater Lincolnshire today, there have been 58 new coronavirus cases and for the second day in a row, no Covid-related deaths— down from 101 cases and two deaths this time last week.

The government's COVID-19 dashboard recorded 33 new cases in Lincolnshire, 15 in North Lincolnshire and 10 in North East Lincolnshire.

On Tuesday, no deaths were registered in Lincolnshire and North East Lincolnshire with -1 in North Lincolnshire. Fluctuations in data are usually due to some deaths in those areas being reallocated to other regions across the UK or a miscount. These figures include deaths both in and out of hospitals, as well as residents in hospitals outside the county.

NHS England has also reported no new local hospital deaths on Tuesday, the second day in a row this week.

On Tuesday, national cases increased by 2,379 to 4,364,529, while deaths rose by 20 to 126,882.

In national news, the later stages of Boris Johnson's roadmap for ending lockdown restrictions in England could cause coronavirus infection rates to surge, the government's scientific advisers have warned.

At a Downing Street briefing on Monday, the prime minister said he wants to stick "like glue" to his plans for easing current measures. He confirmed that step two – where shops, hairdressers and beer gardens can reopen – will go ahead on April 12 as planned.

It would be "remiss" of the government not to consider COVID certification as a way of fully reopening the economy, Vaccines Minister Nadhim Zahawi says.

Amid criticism of the plans, Mr Zahawi said: "It's only right that we look at all these options that are available to us to take our lives back."