Rutland recorded 47 cases of Covid-19 yesterday and over the weekend, with one death also recorded since Friday.

The 7-day case rate rose sightly from 172.8 cases per 100,000 over the weekend, but yesterday was back at the 177.8 cases per 100,000 it was on Friday, but generally lower than last week's numbers.

The week to yesterday saw 71 cases recorded in Rutland, with the the number of cases per week in the 70s for much of last week, peaking at 80.

This means that fewer than one-in-500 Rutland residents have succumbed to the virus over the past week.

Rutland's seven day rate is well below the England average rate of 294.2 cases 100,000, which is falling relatively rapidly.

The total number of cases has now increased from 1113 on Friday to 1160 yesterday, which is a rate of 2905.3 cases per 100,000, which means about one-in-35 Rutlanders have been recorded at having caught the virus at some stage during the pandemic.

The deaths tally yesterday remained at 42 yesterday after rising by one over the weekend, meaning around one-in-a-thousand Rutlanders will have died with Covid-19 at some stage,

In Greater Lincolnshire, 213 new coronavirus cases and six COVID-related deaths in Greater Lincolnshire on the first day of February.

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The government's COVID-19 dashboard recorded 159 new cases in Lincolnshire, 32 in North Lincolnshire and 22 in North East Lincolnshire.

The county's 7-day average is still way below the national average with 180.3 per 100,000 people in Greater Lincolnshire compared to 294.2 in England and just above Rutland's 177.8.

South Kesteven reported 42 cases yesterday, putting it on 6066 since the start of the pandemic. This means almost one person in 25 in the district have a recorded case since the start of the pandemic.

The district is experiencing a downward trend with it 388 cases over the past week, giving a rate of 272.4 cases per 100,000. This is a decrease from 278.7 recorded over the weekend.

The number of deaths in South Kesteven increased by one yesterday to 200. This means about on-in-70,000 will have died of Covid-19 since the pandemic started.

Overall, six deaths were registered in Lincolnshire and none in Northern Lincolnshire. These figures include deaths both in and out of hospitals, as well as residents in hospitals outside the county.

National cases increased by 18,607 to 3,835,783, while deaths rose by 406 to 106,564.

The county's average is still way below the national average with 180.3 per 100,000 people in Greater Lincolnshire compared to 294.2 in England.

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Meanwhile, Leicester's Covid infection rate has dropped below 400 for the first time since well before Christmas.

NHS figures show that between January 24 and 30, the city's seven-day rate was running at 349.5 cases per 100,000. When the November lockdown ended the city's rate was 355 per 100k.

The NHS Progression dashboard showed that this related to 1,238 cases recorded in the same timeframe and equated to a 36 per cent drop on the week before.

During the same period, Leicestershire's rate was recorded at 225.6 people per 100,000 cases.

There were 1,593 cases confirmed in the county over the course of the timeframe equating to a 26 per cent drop.

The rates meant that Leicester was ranked in 23rd place, while Leicestershire, with its lower than average rate, placed 96th out 153 local authorities in the infection rate table.

In national news, "Surge testing" is to be deployed in parts of the country where the South African variant of coronavirus has been found, including parts of London, the South East, West Midlands, east of England, and the North West.

It comes after residents in parts of Surrey were told they would be offered coronavirus tests after two people with no travel links were found to have caught the variant discovered in South Africa.

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Every care home resident in England has been offered a COVID-19 jab, the NHS has confirmed, just hours after a new record was set for vaccinations in the UK.

Older people living in more than 10,000 care homes across England have either been vaccinated or offered the jab and those forced to wait because of an outbreak of the virus will be treated as soon as possible, health professionals said.

Well-wishes have flooded in for Captain Sir Tom Moore, the Second World War veteran who raised millions for the NHS during lockdown, after he was admitted to hospital with coronavirus.

Captain Tom, 100, tested positive for COVID-19 last week and was taken to hospital on Sunday for help with his breathing, his daughter Hannah said in a tweet.

In December, he went on a family holiday in Barbados after British Airways paid for his flight.

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