Rutland has recorded 44 cases over the weekend, which has returned it's 7-day case rate to around the level of a week ago.

Once again, no deaths were recorded.

The 7-day rate had been declining recently, and on Friday stood at 167.8 cases per 100,000, compared with 182.8 on Wednesday and 190.3 on Tuesday.

Now, it stands at 202.9, similar to levels the week before last, based on a recorded 81 cases in the week to yesterday.

Last Sunday, the county's 7-day rate was at 165.3 cases per 100,000, and it was at 167.8 cases per 100,000 of population on the Sunday before that.

Whilst the Rutland figure has fluctuated a little, the England average has steadily risen in recent weeks and stands much higher at 398.6 cases per 100,000. A week ago it was at 301.5 cases per 100,000.

However, there has been a large increase in testing recently, with 1.2 million tests on Saturday and 7.2 million over the past week.

Rutland has now recorded 2026 cases recorded since the start of the pandemic- about one case for every 20 residents. This compares with the England average of about one-in-12.

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.

The last recorded such death in England's smallest county was on Wednesday April 28. Before that it was Thursday March 25.

Meanwhile, in Lincolnshire, South Kesteven recorded 134 cases of Covid-19 over the weekend but the district has now gone almost 11 weeks without a death.

The total remains 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 15 weeks.

However, the 7-day case rate in South Kesteven has continued rising, with it increasing by half over the past week.

The 134 positive tests recorded over the weekend compares with 109 on Friday and 61 people testing positive on Thursday.

The weekend's 134 cases also compares with 78 last weekend and 44 testing positive the weekend before.

Overall, there have been 8702 recorded cases in South Kesteven since the start of the pandemic- equivalent to about one for about 16 residents in the district.

The 7-day rate is now 230.3 cases per 100,000- meaning one-in-400 will have tested positive with the virus over the past week- compared 153.8 in the week to last Sunday and 79.3 the Sunday before.

However, despite the sharp increases, it remains well below the England average of 398.6 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.

Nationally, there were 25 recorded deaths with Covid-19 yesterday and there were 41 deaths recorded on Saturday, compared with 49 on Friday. In the week to yesterday, some 283 have died with Covid, an increase of 80 or 39.4 per cent on the week before.

Some 54,674 were tested positive on Saturday and 48,161 yesterday. The total of confirmed cases in the week to yesterday is 316,691, an increase of 95,639 or 43.3 per cent on the previous week.