The weekly Covid-19 infection rate has dropped to its lowest all year.

The figures follow a further plunge since the weekend, with England's smallest county now only slightly above the national average.

A dearth of new cases follows two outbreaks at HMP Stocken, which for a time were responsible for most of the cases in the county, and in the first outbreak, gave Rutland one of the worst 7-day case rates in the country.

In the week to Friday, Rutland recorded 55 cases, but this has since fallen to 41 cases in the week to Monday and again in the week to Tuesday.

This gives the district a 7-day case rate of 102.7, which is just above the England rate of 97.1 cases per 100,000, which has been on a consistent downward trend in recent weeks.

Over the weekend, Rutland recorded 13 cases, followed by 2 on Monday and 5 on Tuesday, putting it on 1539 in total, equivalent to almost one-in-25 of the county's population since the pandemic started.

The number of deaths remained at 59 yesterday, an increase of 2 over the week. The 59 means about one-in-700 of the county's population will have died after testing positive with the virus.

Meanwhile, in Lincolnshire, South Kesteven is recording a sharp fall in Covid-19 cases, reflecting national trends.

The district recorded 9 cases on Tuesday, the same as Monday, but with the numbers being well-down on last week, the 7-day rate continues to fall significantly.

The district recorded 143 cases in the week to yesterday, compared with 158 in the week to Monday. This time last week, the figure was 187 cases per 100,000.

The 7-day case rate for South Kesteven is now 100.4 cases per 100,000, just above the England average of 97.1, which is also falling rapidly.

The district's 9 cases gives a grand total of 6831 since the start of the pandemic- about one in 20 of South Kesteven's population.

The number of recorded deaths on Tuesday increased by two, giving a total of 255 since the start of the pandemic- about one-in-600 of South Kesteven's population.

Overall, the government's UK Covid-19 tracker recorded 97 new coronavirus cases and seven COVID-related deaths in Greater Lincolnshire on Tuesday — down from 136 cases and eight deaths this time last week.

The dashboard recorded 69 new cases in Lincolnshire, 18 in North East Lincolnshire and 10 in North Lincolnshire.

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

NHS England reported three new local hospital deaths at United Lincolnshire Hospitals Trust and one at Northern Lincolnshire and Goole NHS Foundation Trust.

On Tuesday, national cases increased by 6,391 to 4,188,400, while deaths rose by 343 to 123,296.

In national news, the first assessment of the Brazilian variant of COVID-19, newly identified in the UK, shows it may spread more easily – and evade the immune system.

Scientists from Brazil and the UK estimate the variant, known as P1, is 1.4 to 2.2 times more transmissible than previous versions of coronavirus circulating in Manaus, the Amazon city where it originated.

So far, the hunt for an unidentified person who tested positive for the Brazil variant of coronavirus has narrowed to 379 households in southeast England, the health secretary has said.

Mr Hancock said in the House of Commons on Tuesday: "We must proceed with caution because although we're moving quickly, the virus moves quickly too."