Rutland has recorded 8 more cases of Covid-19.

But once more, there were no deaths.

The county's 7-day case rate remains at 26 cases per 100,000, after tripling over the past week, but it remains well below the national average.

The 7-day rate is now 65.1 cases per 100,000, the same as Thursday, compared with 57.6 on Wednesday 52.6 on Tuesday, 37.6 on Monday and 32.6 in the week to Sunday.

Last Friday, it was 20, and it reached a low of 5, based on two cases, the Friday before that, two weeks ago.

Rutland's 7-day case rate is almost two-thirds the England average of 105.3 (equivalent to one-in-a-thousand people).

England's 7-day case rate has crept up in recent weeks, whilst in Rutland it has fluctuated at low levels, at one stage last week amongst the lowest in the country.

Rutland has now recorded 1754 cases recorded since the start of the pandemic- about one case for every 25 residents. This compares with the England average of almost one-in-15.

The number of deaths remains at 65, the same as yesterday- about one for every 600 residents, which compares with the national average of one-in-500 residents.

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

Meanwhile, in Lincolnshire, the daily number of Covid-19 cases in South Kesteven increased on Friday, but the weekly rate fell yesterday fallen as it bobs up and down this week.

South Kesteven recorded 12 cases yesterday, compared with 7 on Thursday, 9 on Wednesday, and six on Tuesday.

Last Friday, the district recorded 13 cases, there were 4 the previous Friday and 5 the Friday before that.

This means the 7-day rate for South Kesteven has dropped from 42.1 cases per 100,000 of population on Thursday to 40 yesterday. Last Friday it stood at 35.1 cases per 100,000.

The district's 7-day rate is still less than half of the England 7-day case rate of 105.2 cases per 100,000 people- about 1 case for every thousand people.

South Kesteven now has a recorded 7805 cases since the start of the pandemic- about one for each 20 residents, which compares with the England average of one for each 15 residents.

The number of reported deaths remains at 270, following an 'increase' by 3 last Wednesday due to changes in how the figures were calculated, rather than any actual deaths.

The last death in South Kesteven was about a month ago and the district has recorded two deaths in more than 2 months.

Overall, coronavirus cases in Greater Lincolnshire have almost doubled so far this week, as government ministers reel from the latest scandal involving the health secretary.

The latest figures show there have been 778 coronavirus cases so far this week while deaths have increased by one — a cases increase of 84% compared to the 422 cases last week, and three fewer deaths.

COVID rates are now spiking in the young population in Lincolnshire, as health bosses plea with people to take advantage of a big vaccine push this month.

The government's COVID-19 dashboard on Friday recorded 85 new cases in Lincolnshire, 75 in North East Lincolnshire and 17 in North Lincolnshire.

There were no deaths reported in government figures, however this week has seen one death recorded. .

On Friday, national COVID cases increased by 15,810 to 4,699,868 while deaths rose by 18 to 128,066.

National news organisations have, on Friday, been focussed on an affair between Health Secretary Matt Hancock and his aide Gina Coladengelo.

A CCTV photo published by The Sun and showing the pair kissing was taken on May 6, when England was still under Stage 2 of COVID restrictions and prohibited gatherings of two or more people indoors.

Mr Hancock has apologised and said he had "let people down" by breaking social distancing guidelines he himself had approved.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has accepted the apology and said he "considers the matter closed".

However, opposition parties are calling for Mr Hancock to step down – calling his position "hopelessly untenable" and saying his actions were "a blatant abuse of power and a clear conflict of interest".

Elsewhere, England's R number has stayed the same at between 1.2 and 1.4, in the latest data published by the scientific advisory panel SAGE.

The UK has seen a 46% rise in cases of Delta variant in the week up to June 21, Public Health England has said.

The Office for National Statistics has also noted cases in general have risen to their highest level since early April, with an estimated 153,000 people having COVID in the week up to June 13, 30% more than the week before.

The Events Research Programme has reported back on its first nine indoor and outdoor event trials across the county and found "no substantial outbreaks" of COVID-19 because of them.

Just 28 cases of COVID-19 were reported during the events which included the Brit Awards ceremony, the FA Cup Final and the World Snooker Championship.

A further variant, known as Lambda, has been designated as a variant under investigation (VUI) by Public Health England.

So far, six cases of Lambda have been identified in the UK – all linked to overseas travel.