Rutland recorded one death and 13 cases of Covid-19 yesterday.

This means the county has now recorded 32 deaths, which follows on from an increase of 3 deaths on Wednesday.

In Rutland, this means about one-in-1400 has died with the virus since the pandemic started.

Rutland recorded 13 cases yesterday, putting it on 1032 cases. This gives a rate 2584.7 cases per 100,000, meaning about one-in-40 has caught the virus since the pandemic started.

However, the county's 7 day rate keeps on fluctuating, with an increase to 248 yesterday, based on the 99 cases recorded over the past week. For much of the week, the rate has been in the 230s and 240s though it was at 265.5 last weekend.

Even so, Rutland's seven day rate is about half of the England average of 484 cases per 100,000.

Meanwhile, nearby South Kesteven, which includes Stamford, has recorded more cases of Coronavirus today, but it remains in third place as county's hotspot.

Overall, Greater Lincolnshire today recorded 353 new coronavirus cases and 17 COVID-related deaths.

There were 293 new cases in Lincolnshire, 42 in North Lincolnshire and 18 in North East Lincolnshire. North Lincolnshire's cases have now surpassed 7,000 since the pandemic started.

Among the districts, South Kesteven recorded 76 cases today compared with 65 yesterday, 42 on Tuesday and 78 on Monday.

This gives a grand total of 5,457 cases since the start of the pandemic, equivalent to about one-in-25 of the district's population.

The number of cases over the past week has increased to 422 on Thursday, compared with 415 on Wednesday, 395 on Tuesday and 410 on Monday. This gives a current 7-day rate of 296.3 cases per 100,000 of population.

Last Monday, South Kesteven had a 7-day rate of 391.8 cases per 100,000, so the number of fresh cases have dropped by a quarter since then.

The number of deaths today increased 2 to 165, or 115.9 per 100,000, which means just over one-in-a-thousand have died of Covid-19 since the start of the pandemic.

On Thursday, 15 deaths were registered in Lincolnshire and two in North East Lincolnshire. These figures include deaths both in and out of hospitals, as well as residents in hospitals outside the county.

On Thursday, national cases increased by 37,892 to 3,543,646, while deaths rose by 1,290 to 94,580.

In national news, coronavirus infections did not slow down and may have increased instead in the first days of the latest national lockdown, a major ongoing study has found.

Researchers at Imperial College London also said it will be weeks before the vaccine rollout has a substantial effect.

Education Secretary Gavin Williamson said pupils could be told in a week's time if they will be returning to classrooms after the February half-term.

Appearing on Sky News, Mr Williamson said his Department for Education would "want to give all schools a clear two weeks' notice period" ahead of their full reopening.