Rutland has effectively maintained the lowest 7-day infection rate since last Summer.

The district recorded one new case today and again, there were no deaths.

Today's single case gives a grand total of 1680 cases since the start of the pandemic- around one in 25 of Rutland's population.

The district has now recorded 6 cases in the week to today, compared with 11 in the week to last Thursday and 5 in the week before that.

The 7-day infection rate is 15 cases per 100,000, which bar a couple of occasions is the lowest since last Summer.

This is well below the England average of 22.1, which has has generally trended downwards and has avoided the fluctuations seen in Lincolnshire.

The Rutland figure is well down on the peak earlier this year, which reached into the 400s for cases per 100,000 of population.

The number of deaths remains at 62, which amounts to about one fatality in 700 residents, which compares to the England average of one-in-500.

The last death was recorded on the last Wednesday of April, the only death with Covid-19 recorded in Rutland during April and so far in May.

Meanwhile, in Lincolnshire, South Kesteven has recorded five cases today, an increase from the three of recent days.

However, the district has now gone more than a month without a death.

Overall, 32 cases have been recorded in the past week, compared with 38 the previous week and 22 the week before that.

This gives South Kesteven a 7-day infection rate of 22.7 cases per 100,000, which is just above the England average of 22.1.

Whilst the figures fluctuate, the latest figures remain among the lowest since last year and around a twentieth of figures earlier in the year when the weekly rate exceeded 400 cases per 100,000.

Overall, South Kesteven has seen 7601 recorded cases since the start of the pandemic- which is about one for every 20 residents.

The number of deaths has remained at 266 for a month. This means that around one-in-600 residents have died within 28 days of a positive test since the pandemic started, which compares with an England average of one-in-500.

Overall, Thursday has marked six days without a coronavirus death in Greater Lincolnshire, but there have been 60 new cases – a decrease from 71 cases and no deaths this time last week.

The government's COVID-19 dashboard recorded 44 new cases in Lincolnshire, 12 in North Lincolnshire and four in North East Lincolnshire.

National cases increased by 2,657 to 4,444,631, while deaths rose by 11 to 127,651.

In national news, coronavirus cases in England are at their lowest level since last August, a new study suggests – but it comes amid fears the rapid spread of the Indian variant could push infections up and impact the PM's final step out of lockdown on 21 June.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock says the government "is worried about the rise of the Indian variant" and "are watching it very, very carefully".

Speaking on a visit to a vaccination centre at the Central Mosque of Brent, north-west London, Hancock says the government is "putting in enhanced contact tracing so that people who test positive for this variant get extra support to make sure that we slow the spread as much as possible".