The 7-day case rate in Rutland is back up a little after 6 cases were recorded today.

No deaths were also recorded, which has been the case for more than ten weeks.

As reported last week, the last recorded such death in England's smallest county was on Wednesday April 28. Before that it was Thursday March 25.

After being stable above the 200 cases per 100,000 for much of last week, the 7-day case rate has fallen to 165.3 cases per 100,000, but bounced back to 182.8 cases per 100,000 based on 73 positive tests in the week until today.

Today's 6 cases compares with 6 last Monday and 10 the Monday before.

Rutland's current 182.8 cases per 100,000 case rate compares with 162.8 last Monday and 102.7 the Monday before. This compares with the steadily rising England average which now stands at 318.8 cases per 100,000.

However, there has been a large increase in testing recently, with 1.1 million tests today and more than 7.2 million over the past week.

Rutland has now recorded 1920 cases recorded since the start of the pandemic- about one case for every 22 residents. This compares with the England average of almost one-in-15.

The number of deaths remains at 65, the same as yesterday- about one for every 600 residents, which compares with the national average of one-in-500 residents.

Meanwhile, in Lincolnshire, the 7-day case rate in South Kesteven has increased four-fold in a fortnight, after a fresh surge of cases today.

The district recorded 39 people testing positive today, compared with 78 cases of Covid-19 were recorded over the weekend.

But once more, there were no deaths, keeping the total at 270, with the last fatality related to the virus in the district being on Wednesday May 5.

The last fatality priority to that was Tuesday March 25, showing South Kesteven has experienced just two deaths with Covid-19 in more than 14 weeks.

Today's 39 positive tests compares with 31 last Monday and 12 the Monday before.

The 7-day rate is now 167.1 cases per 100,000, compared 93.4 last Monday and 38.6 the Monday before.

However, despite the rate almost doubling over the past week, it remains around half the England average of 318.8 cases per 100,000.

The England average 7-day rate has steadily risen in recent weeks, while the South Kesteven figure has tended to fluctuate at a much reduced level before creeping upwards.

The figures come as testing has been ramped up significantly across the country, with 1.1 million tests taking place yesterday alone and more than 7.2 million tests over the past week.

In national news, people have been told to "act with caution" and recommended to wear masks, while businesses will be encouraged to use COVID-19 vaccination certification as the government moves forward with the final lifting of lockdown restrictions.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson this evening confirmed an end to England's social-distancing rules from July 19 as 34,471 cases of coronavirus and six deaths were confirmed in England.

In a press conference at Downing Street, Mr Johnson warned that if they were to wait to reopen, they would be doing so when the weather "gets colder" and when "the virus acquires a greater natural advantage".

"We think now is the right moment to proceed, when we have the natural firebreak of the school holidays in the next few days," he said.

"But it is absolutely vital that we proceed now with caution, and I cannot say this powerfully or emphatically enough, this pandemic is not over.

"We cannot simply revert instantly to life as it was before COVID."

The rules being relaxed include:

The end of one metre-plus social distancing

The limits on visitors to care homes will be lifted

All businesses will be allowed to reopen, including night clubs

No COVID certificate will be required to enter any venue or event – though businesses may choose to require some way to show COVID status

As part of the plans going forwarded, guidance will be produced which will, however, encourage businesses and large events to use vaccination certification, while a further review will take place in September to test the country's preparedness for Autumn.

Despite concerns over lifting rules on face coverings, government bosses said people should "act with caution and with personal responsibility," adding it was "expected and recommended that people should wear face coverings, unless they're exempt, in crowded indoor settings like public transport".

Mr Johnson said the government "don't expect that the whole country will return to their desk as of one on Monday" adding there would be guidance for a gradual return over the summer.

The government has now given out 80 million doses of coronavirus vaccine, and government bosses said nine in 10 adultsin the UK now have COVID-19 antibodies and two thirds had been given two doses.

Meanwhile, scientific evidence was that the vaccine had "severely weakened" the link between cases and hospitalisation and deaths. This includes against the Delta variant, which is more transmissible, but which government said the data showed was just as affected by double doses.

Confirming the plans in the House of Commons prior to the Prime Minister, Health Secretary Sajid Javid said the country was in a "stronger position than ever before".

"This will be a major milestone for this country, taking us another step closer to the life that we all used to live. It means carefully removing more of the restrictions that have governed our daily lives," he said.

"We've all been yearning to get there, and I want, and we all want this to be a one way journey."

He later warned: "Sadly, the case numbers will get a lot worse before they get better, we could reach 100,000 cases a day later in the summer."

The government's COVID-19 dashboard on Monday also reported 252 new cases in Lincolnshire, 149 in North East Lincolnshire and 81 in North Lincolnshire.

The figure is just 4% higher than last Monday's 463 cases.

In positive news, Lincolnshire hospitals have not reported a coronavirus-related death in 38 days, and for 23 days in North Lincolnshire — with over 70% of the population already double-jabbed.

Nationally, cases increased by 34,471 to 5,155,243 while deaths rose by six to 128,431.