Rutland has recorded a significant drop in Covid-19 case numbers over the weekend.

Twenty-two cases were recorded during Saturday and Sunday, putting the county on 1066 in total since the pandemic started.

More significantly however, it meant the 7-day case numbers dropped from 96 cases on Friday to 78 yesterday. The previous Friday, the seven day case numbers was 106.

Rutland's seven day case rate has also dropped before 200 for the first time since around the start of the New Year. This is less than half England's 7-day rate of 437.8.

Altogether, it means that about one in 40 people have succumbed to the virus since the start of the pandemic, including about one-in-500 over the past week.

Over the weekend, Rutland recorded two deaths, putting it on 35 since the pandemic started- less than one in a thousand of the county's population.

Nearby Greater Lincolnshire recorded 518 new coronavirus cases and 20 COVID-related deaths over the weekend.

The government's COVID-19 dashboard recorded 414 new cases in Lincolnshire across Saturday and Sunday, 59 in North Lincolnshire and 45 in North East Lincolnshire.

Among the districts, South Kesteven recorded 110 cases, putting it on 5634 since the start of the pandemic- meaning around one-in-25 of the district's population will have caught the virus at some stage during the pandemic.

It's 7-day rate has dropped slightly to 297.7 cases per 100,000 based on the 424 cases recorded in South Kesteven over the past week. It has hovered around this amount all last week.

The number of deaths increased four over the weekend, with South Kesteven now recording 176 deaths in total. This is equivalent to 123.6 deaths per 100,000, about one-in-800 of the population.

By the end of Sunday, 18 deaths were registered in Lincolnshire and two in North Lincolnshire. These figures include deaths both in and out of hospitals, as well as residents in hospitals outside the county.

The weekend saw national cases increase to 3,647,463, while deaths rose to 97,939.

The UK has identified 77 cases of the coronavirus variant first detected in South Africa, the health secretary has said.

Cases are linked to travellers arriving in the UK, rather than community transmission, Matt Hancock added.

Sunday's data revealed that 6,353,321 have had at least their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine – a rise of almost half a million on Saturday's figure.

Almost a million people received a first dose at the weekend, suggesting there is no weekend lag when it comes to giving out vaccines.

More than 30 new vaccination centres are due to open in England this week as the drive continues to protect the population against COVID-19.

The 32 centres include the Black Country Living Museum in Dudley, a racecourse, a football stadium and a former Ikea store – however, none of these centres will be in Greater Lincolnshire or Rutland.

Boris Johnson is facing increasing pressure from cabinet ministers and scientists to impose blanket border control measures against coronavirus.

Ministers are to meet on Tuesday to weigh up the merits of a border policy that could require all new arrivals to quarantine at their own expense in government-supervised hotels.

The government is making £23 million available to councils in England to help counter misinformation about the coronavirus vaccine and boost take-up of the jab.

Communities Secretary Robert Jenrick said it was being targeted at areas with plans to reach out to groups such as older people, disabled people, and people from ethnic minority backgrounds who are more likely to suffer long-term impacts and poor outcomes from the virus.