The Covid-19 seven-day case rate in Rutland is remaining at twice the national average.

Since the weekend, numbers have bounced back somewhat following after the plunge in recorded cases which followed a spike caused by an outbreak at HMP Stocken.

Two weeks ago the prison outbreak of cases caused the county's 7-day case rate to exceed 500 cases per 100,000 of population- around three times what it was before.

Cases tumbled back to below what they were originally, but over the weekend they nearly doubled before heading back down again.

In the seven days to Wednesday, Rutland recorded 96 cases, compared to 95 on Tuesday, 96 on Monday and 98 on Sunday.

But last Thursday and Friday saw the county record 52 cases over 7 days- a quarter of the numbers two weeks ago.

Rutland now has a 7-day case rate of 240.4 cases per 100,000, double the England average of 119.9 cases per 100,000, which is maintaining a downward trend.

Yesterday, Rutland recorded 7 cases, putting it on 1509 in total, equivalent to almost one-in-25 of the county's population since the pandemic started.

The number of deaths increased by one yesterday. This puts the total of deaths with covid-19 at 59, meaning about one-in-700 of the county's population will have died after testing positive with the virus.

In Lincolnshire, South Kesteven has suffered a sharp rise in cases yesterday, with 34 cases recorded, compared with 8 on Tuesday.

The figures, according to the government's Covid-19 tracker, puts the district on 6750 cases (about one case in 25 residents) since the start of the pandemic.

However, over a week, the number of cases increased from 179 on Monday to 183 on Tuesday and 187 yesterday, compared with a recent low of 155 last Thursday.

The 7-day rate increased from 125.7 cases per 100,000 on Monday to 128.5 cases per 100,000 on Tuesday and 131.3 cases per 100,000 yesterday, which compares to an England average of 119.9 cases per 100,000.

The number of deaths increased 2 to 250- about one-in-600 of South Kesteven's population.

Overall, there have been 217 new coronavirus cases and four COVID-related deaths in Greater Lincolnshire on Wednesday — compared to 204 cases and 10 deaths last Wednesday.

The government's COVID-19 dashboard recorded 157 new cases in Lincolnshire, 38 in North East Lincolnshire and 22 in North Lincolnshire.

On Wednesday, three deaths were registered in 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 9,938 to 4,144,577, deaths rose by 442 to 121,747 and first dose jabs have surpassed 18 million.

Nationally, an apparent fall in the number of Britons being vaccinated against COVID-19 each day is down to "supply fluctuations", England's deputy chief medical officer has told Sky News.

Professor Jonathan Van-Tam said it "will take a few months" before vaccine manufacturers are able to produce doses in a "steady routine", adding that "global supply restraints" have also hampered the UK's vaccine rollout.

In world news, Ghana has become the first country to receive coronavirus vaccines through the Covax vaccine-sharing initiative.

The World Health Organization (WHO) programme aims to ensure that vaccines are shared fairly among all nations.

Covax is aiming to deliver about two billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines globally by the end of the year.