A further slump in Covid-19 cases has been recorded in Rutland, with the county also not recording a Covid-related death in a fortnight.

The UK government's Covid-19 tracker recorded just 11 cases in the week to yesterday, down from 16 in the week to Tuesday and down from 30 in the week to last Wednesday.

That 11 represents about one case for every 4,000 residents and gives a rate of 27.6 cases per 100,000 of population- less than half the 58.7 England average.

Four cases were recorded yesterday, giving Rutland a grand total of 1582- equivalent to about one-in-25 of the county's population.

The number of deaths remains at 60- where it has been for two weeks. It means around one-in-700 residents have died with the virus, compared with an England average of around one-in-500.

The figures come amid a rapid growth in testing nationally and a further rapid roll-out of the vaccination programme.

Meanwhile, in Lincolnshire, South Kesteven has recorded it's first Covid death in ten days.

In the latest figures, released yesterday afternoon, the death recorded in the district was the first since Monday March 8.

It gives a grand total for South Kesteven of 264 cases, which is almost one for each 500 residents. The England average is just above at about one-in-500.

The 7-day rate has again this week, with 103 cases have now been recorded in South Kesteven over the past week, compared with 80 in the week to last Wednesday.

This gives the district a 7-day rate of 72.3 cases per 100,000, which is almost three times the Rutland rate but still well down on several weeks ago.

Meanwhile, there have been 173 new coronavirus cases and seven COVID-related deaths in Greater Lincolnshire on Wednesday — compared to 200 cases and five deaths last Wednesday.

The government's COVID-19 dashboard recorded 111 new cases in Lincolnshire, 39 in North Lincolnshire and 23 in North East Lincolnshire.

On Wednesday, four deaths were registered in Lincolnshire, two in North East Lincolnshire and one in North Lincolnshire. These figures include deaths both in and out of hospitals, as well as residents in hospitals outside the county.

On Wednesday, national cases increased by 5,758 to 4,274,579, while deaths rose by 141 to 125,831.

This comes as more than 25 million people have received the first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine in the UK, with Health Secretary Matt Hancock calling it "an extraordinary feat".

The coronavirus vaccination programme has been in operation for 100 days, and people aged 50 and over are now being invited to book their first dose.

Wednesday March 17 marks 100 days since the NHS administered the first ever dose of the COVID-19 vaccine in the UK, when Margaret Keenan was vaccinated on December 8, 2020.

The milestone comes alongside news that people aged 50 or over are now being invited by the NHS to accept the vaccine and book an appointment.

In national news, The health department was a "smoking ruin" in the early days of the COVID pandemic, the prime minister's former chief aide has told MPs.

Dominic Cummings revealed how the UK's vaccine programme was moved out of Matt Hancock's Department of Health and Social Care following the problems health officials had in buying protective equipment for NHS staff.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has threatened to block vaccine exports to the UK and other countries with markedly higher rollouts of coronavirus jabs.

The EU's delivery of COVID vaccines has been slower compared with the UK rollout, where nearly 25 million adults have now had their first dose.