Rutland has not seen a death with Covid 19 for more than a week.

Today, England's smallest county recorded no deaths- the last being last Wednesday.

However, there were five cases of Covid-19 recorded today, compared with five yesterday, and one on Tuesday. Last Friday also recorded five cases.

The number of cases recorded over a week has increased from a low of 11 last week, to a high of 28 today.

This gives Rutland a 7-day case rate of 70.1 cases per 100,000 population, which is well above the England average of 53.5.

In total, Rutland has seen 1,643 cases, which amounts to one for every 25 residents.

The deaths tally of 61 amounts to about one for every 700 residents, which is better than the England average of one-in-500.

Meanwhile, in Lincolnshire, South Kesteven has gone more than a week without recording a death from Covid-19.

However, the 7-day Covid-19 infection rate has kept on rising.

Official government figures recorded 22 cases today, compared with 18 yesterday, 11 yesterday and 22 each on Monday and Tuesday.

This gives a grand total of 7362 since the start of the pandemic- equivalent to one case for almost 20 residents.

South Kesteven has recorded 179 cases in the past week, compared with 172 in the week to yesterday.

In the week to last Friday, the numbers were 127, 108 in the week to the Friday before, and 84 in the week to the Friday before that.

Today's figure gives a 7-day case rate of 125.7, which is more than double the England average of 53.5 cases per 100,000.

Overall, there have been 572 coronavirus cases in Greater Lincolnshire and 12 COVID-related deaths so far this week — a fall of 27% in cases and 33% down in deaths compared to this time last week.

The government's COVID-19 dashboard on Good Friday recorded 48 new cases in Lincolnshire, 22 in North Lincolnshire and 15 in North East Lincolnshire.

On April 2, one death was registered in North Lincolnshire, with -1 deaths in both Lincolnshire and North East Lincolnshire. These figures include deaths both in and out of hospitals, as well as residents in hospitals outside the county. Fluctuations in data can occur for a variety of reasons including corrected data, misdiagnoses or wrong addresses.

On Good Friday, national cases increased by 3,402 (the lowest number since mid-September) to 4,353,668, while deaths rose by 52 to 126,816.

Nationally, the government is considering plans for so-called COVID-19 passports for those who have been vaccinated, allowing them access to pubs, restaurants, theatres, stadiums and nightclubs without social distancing needed.

Trials of vaccine passports or "certificates" could begin next month and a pilot scheme will begin to update the NHS COVID App to allow users to prove they have been vaccinated.

England's R number could be as high as 1 and cases may have stopped shrinking, according to government scientists' latest estimates.

The Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) estimates England's latest R number to be between 0.8 and 1 – up from between 0.7 and 0.9 across the whole of the UK last week. This means for every 10 infected, they will pass COVID onto between eight and 10 others.