Rutland recorded two cases of Covid-19 yesterday and no deaths.

However, the county's 7-day case rate increased to 20 cases per 100,000, based on 8 cases over the past week, up from 15 yesterday, based on 6 cases, and from 12.5 on Wednesday, based on 5 cases.

This rate is around a quarter of the England average of 77.5, and is higher than the 5 rate of last Friday, which was based on 2 cases over a week, the lowest since last Summer.

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 1715 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 7-day Covid-19 infection rate in South Kesteven has surged to be four times what it was ten days ago.

Thirteen cases were recorded today, compared with seven yesterday, giving a total of 50 over the past week.

This compares with 45 in the week to yesterday, 21 in the week to last Friday and the recent low of 12 in the week to last Tuesday.

This means the 7-day rate for South Kesteven is now 35.1 cases per 100,000 of population, which is still less than half of the England 7-day case rate of 77.5.

Last Friday, the district's 7-day case rate stood at 14.7 and it was at 11.9 the Friday before and 22.5 the Friday before that.

South Kesteven now has a recorded 7748 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 on Wednesday due to changes in how the figures were calculated, rather than any actual deaths.

Overall across Lincolnshire, there has been a further 53% spike in COVID-19 cases so far this week in Lincolnshire, and hospital-based coronavirus-related deaths have gone up by one compared to last week.

The latest figures show there have been 422 coronavirus cases so far this week but government recorded deaths have decreased by three — an increase of 53.45% compared to the 275 cases and two deaths last week.

The government's COVID-19 dashboard on Friday recorded 51 new cases in Lincolnshire, 33 in North East Lincolnshire and nine in North Lincolnshire.

There were no deaths reported in government figures, however changes in numbers earlier this week was due to residents being more accurately designated to their correct addresses.

NHS England, however, reported one local hospital death in Greater Lincolnshire's four health trusts so far this week (but none on Friday), equal to this time last week.

On Friday, national COVID cases increased by 10,476 to 4,610,893 while deaths rose by 11 to 127,956.

The R number in England has remained unchanged from last week, staying between 1.2 and 1.4, latest government figures have shown.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has also said he is "very confident" that the final stage of lockdown will take place by July 19 after delaying it by a month this week.

Vaccinations have also opened for all adults, meaning anyone over 18 can now book a COVID jab.

Meanwhile, the ONS weekly infection survey has estimated that 105,000 people nationally had coronavirus, outside hospitals or care homes, in the week ending 12 June. The figure is equal to 1 in 520 people.