Rutland has recorded a small decrease in its 7-day infection rate, with it about its lowest in months.

No increase in the number of recorded cases took place today, with the government's UK Covid 19 tracker recording 7 cases over the past week.

Yesterday, just cases were recorded in the week to Thursday, suggestion a revision of data will have taken place,

The weekly infection rate is now 17.5 cases per 100,000, which is well below the England average of 24.5. Earlier this year during prison-related 'spikes' it peaked at above 400.

The number of deaths remains at 61, as it has for more than 4 weeks. About one-in-700 Rutlanders have died with the virus compared to one-in-500 nationally.

Meanwhile in Lincolnshire, the number of cases in South Kesteven this week has dropped almost by a third and the week has again passed without a death.

In the week to today, just 48 cases have been recorded in the district, compared with 67 in the week to last Friday.

The 7-day infection rate has dropped from 47 to 33.7 cases per 100,000, though it was a slight increase on yesterday.

This was despite a revision in how the numbers were calculated resulting in the total number of cases dropping from 7515 to 7514 since yesterday- about one in every 20 residents.

The figures is the lowest in months and about a tenth of the peak earlier this year.

The deaths tally remains at 266, as it has for more than 3 weeks. This amounts to about one-in-600 residents compared to the England average of one-in-500.

Overall, there have been 251 coronavirus cases in Greater Lincolnshire and five COVID-related deaths so far this week – a 12% drop in cases and three fewer deaths than the previous week.

The government's COVID-19 dashboard on Friday recorded 26 new cases in Lincolnshire, 20 in North Lincolnshire and 10 in North East Lincolnshire.

On April 23, one death was registered in North Lincolnshire and -1 in 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 Friday, national cases increased by 2,678 to 4,401,109, while deaths rose by 40 to 127,385.

In national news, England's R number has risen slightly to between 0.8 and 1, suggesting the pandemic is continuing to shrink but at a slower rate. This means for every 10 people with the virus, they will transmit it to between 8 and 10 others. Last week, rates were between 0.7 and 1.

The coronavirus variant that first emerged in India is now being transmitted within the UK after three cases were detected that were not associated with travel.

A total of 55 new infections with the COVID strain have been traced across the country, with India added to Britain's "red list" as of Friday morning.

An MP has highlighted "widespread outrage" over the failure to prosecute anyone over a funeral allegedly attended by up to 150 mourners.

The event took place at a church in Kettering, Northamptonshire, during the second lockdown in November.