The 7-day infection rate in Rutland has slumped back to what it was before the outbreak at HMP Prison.

The government's UK Covid-19 tracker recorded just 4 cases yesterday, the same as Monday, putting it on 1404 cases since the start of the pandemic.

This means that around one-in-300 Rutlanders will have being diagnosed with the virus at some stage.

The tracker says 73 cases were recorded in the week to yesterday, compared with 118 in the week to Monday and 162 in the week to Sunday.

This means that the 7-day case rate is now 182.8 cases per 100,000- just over a third of its peak a week ago- and similar to the levels of before the prison outbreak.

The number of recorded deaths yesterday in Rutland increased by 2 to 52.

Meanwhile, five deaths from Covid-19 were recorded in nearby South Kesteven yesterday, but case numbers stayed on a downward trend.

The figures from the government's Covid-19 tracker show the districted recorded 16 cases, putting it on 6530 in total- about one for every 20 resident since the start of the pandemic.

Some 183 cases cases have now been reported in the district over the past week, giving a 7-day infection rate of 128.5 cases per 100,000, just over a third of the level two weeks ago.

This is reflected nationally, which has seen the England 7-day rate drop from 294.2.5 two weeks ago, to 212.6 a week ago.

Overall, there have been 145 new coronavirus cases and 20 COVID-related deaths in Greater Lincolnshire on Tuesday — a fall in cases since Monday (160) but a big increase in deaths.

The government's COVID-19 dashboard recorded 100 new cases in Lincolnshire, 27 in North East Lincolnshire and 18 in North Lincolnshire.

On Tuesday, 15 deaths were registered in Lincolnshire, three in North East 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.

In South Kesteven, the increase of five, gave a total of 242 deaths.

Deaths have now surpassed 2,000 in Greater Lincolnshire since the start of the pandemic.

On Tuesday, national cases increased by 10,625 to 4,058,468, deaths rose by 799 to 118,195 while COVID first jab numbers hit 15.5 million.

In national news, around 1.7 million more people will be added to the shielding list in England, after being found to be at potential serious risk from COVID-19.

They have been identified by a new algorithm that looks at multiple factors, and will be sent a letter from the NHS in the coming days.

The number of people who have COVID-19 antibodies has increased across the UK but there is substantial variation between regions, new figures show.

The rates are highest in England, where around one in five adults tested positive for antibodies, with the ratio rising to one in seven in Wales and Northern Ireland and one in nine in Scotland.

The government is battling a "tsunami of disinformation" when it comes to coronavirus jabs, the vaccines minister has told Sky News.

Nadhim Zahawi said that while overall COVID-19 "vaccine positivity" was high, those who are "vaccine hesitant" tend to "skew heavily" towards black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) communities.