Rutland is suffering a surge in Covid-19 cases, in contrast to the rest of the country.

Until now, England's smallest county has one of the better records in England, with rates well below the national average. But Rutland is fast catching up.

This comes as the number of positive test results across the UK yesterday (Friday) dropped below 20,000, less than one third of the 60,000-plus number of positive results recorded earlier in the month.

On Friday, Rutland recorded 48 positive test results, compared with 20 cases on Thursday, 18 on Wednesday and smaller numbers earlier in the week.

The sharp increase from 8 on Tuesday also helped increase the 7-day case rate, which fluctuates, but increased significantly yesterday.

The number of weekly cases in the county increased from 80 to 92, after being at 68 only on Wednesday.

This gives a 7-day rate now of 230.4 per 100,000 of population, compared with 170.3 cases per 100,000 on Wednesday and 200.4 cases per 100,000 on Thursday.

This is the highest for a couple of weeks.

It means that almost one-in-400 Rutland residents have succumbed to the virus over the past week. Typically, it was below one-in-500.

However, Rutland's seven day rate remains well below the England average rate of 257.6 cases 100,000, which is falling rapidly.

The total number of cases has now increased to 1254, which is a rate of 3140.7 cases per 100,000, which means about one-in-30 Rutlanders have been recorded at having caught the virus at some stage during the pandemic.

The deaths tally increased by one yesterday to 45, following several single figure increases during the week. It means around one-in-a-thousand Rutlanders will have died with Covid-19 at some stage.

Elsewhere, South Kesteven has joined a national trend of lower cases, though at a slower rate.

This week, official government figures report 1,204 new coronavirus cases and 64 COVID-related deaths in Greater Lincolnshire.

The figure presents a hefty drop compared to 2,239 cases and 82 deaths in the first full week of January, and a continued decrease from 1,384 cases and 68 deaths last week.

Among the districts, South Kesteven reported 50 cases today, putting it on 6246 since the start of the pandemic. This means about one person in 20 in the district have a recorded case since the start of the pandemic.

The district is experiencing a downward trend with it recording 365 cases over the past week, giving a rate of 256.3 cases per 100,000. This is a decrease from 279.4 a week ago.

This is similar to the England average of 257.6 cases per 100,000, which is also on a downward trend. But with other district declining faster, South Kesteven now has the second highest 7-day rate in Lincolnshire.

The number of deaths in South Kesteven increased by three to 216 yesterday, after rises of five yesterday and four on Wednesday. This means about on-in-70,000 in the district will have died with Covid-19 since the pandemic started.

Overall, some 229 new cases and 15 deaths were reported in Greater Lincolnshire on Friday. The government's COVID-19 dashboard recorded 182 new cases in Lincolnshire, 24 in North East Lincolnshire and 23 in North Lincolnshire.

On Friday, 10 deaths were registered in Lincolnshire, four in North Lincolnshire and one in North East Lincolnshire. These figures include deaths both in and out of hospitals, as well as residents in hospitals outside the county.

On Friday, national cases increased by 19,114 to 3,911,573, while deaths rose by 1,014 to 111,264.

Nationally, the UK's coronavirus reproduction number (R number) – is now between 0.7 and 1.0, according to the latest estimate, down from 0.7 and 1.1 last week.

The R refers to the number of people an infected person will pass COVID-19 on to and means for every 10 people infected, they will pass the virus on to between seven and 10 others.

In national news, the government has also revealed it wants all over-50s to be reached in the coronavirus vaccine rollout by May.

It is a significant target and the first time a firm date has been put on when all those in the top nine categories on the priority list for a COVID-19 jab will be offered one by.

No contracts have yet been awarded to hotels to take part in England's new quarantine scheme, No 10 has said.

From February 15, all those arriving from 33 COVID variant hotspots will have to stay in a hotel for 10 nights.

The Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine remains effective against the coronavirus variant first detected in Kent and the South East, researchers have found.

The researchers who developed the jab say it has a similar efficacy against the variant compared to the original COVID-19 strain it was tested against.