The 7-day case rate in Rutland has taken a plunge over the weekend, despite the county recording 32 cases.

No deaths were recorded, which has been the case for more than ten weeks.

As reported last week, the last recorded such death in England's smallest county was on Wednesday April 28. Before that it was Thursday March 25.

After being stable above the 200 cases per 100,000 for much of last week, the 7-day case rate has fallen to 165.3 cases per 100,000, based on 66 positive tests over the week until yesterday (Sunday).

The weekend's 32 cases compares with 29 last weekend and 11 the weekend before.

Rutland's current 165.3 cases per 100,000 case rate compares with 167.7 last Sunday and 82.7 the Sunday. The decline over the past several days contrasts with the England average, which is rising and is now 301.5 cases per 100,000.

However, there has been a large increase in testing recently, with 1.1 million tests today and 7.3 million over the past week.

Rutland has now recorded 1914 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.

Meanwhile, in Lincolnshire, the 7-day case in South Kesteven has almost doubled over the past week as 78 cases of Covid-19 were recorded over the weekend.

But once more, there were no deaths, the the last fatality related to the virus in the district being on Wednesday May 5.

The last fatality priority to that was Tuesday March 25, showing South Kesteven has experienced just two deaths with Covid-19 in more than 14 weeks.

The weekend's 78 positive tests compares with 44 last weekend and 27 the weekend before that.

The 7-day rate is now 153.8 cases per 100,000, compared 79.3 last Sunday and 40 the Sunday before that.

However, despite the rate doubling over the past week, it remains below half the England average of 301.5 cases per 100,000.

The England average 7-day rate has steadily risen in recent weeks, while the South Kesteven figure has tended to fluctuate at a much reduced level before creeping upwards.

Overall, there were 3,452 new cases of coronavirus in Greater Lincolnshire last week, an increase of almost 50% week-on-week, as the Prime Minister is set to confirm rule changes later on Monday.

The government's COVID-19 dashboard over the weekend reported 548 new cases in Lincolnshire, 419 in North East Lincolnshire and 148 in North Lincolnshire. The overall figure is 45.5% higher than last week's 2,373 cases.

In positive news, Lincolnshire hospitals have not reported a coronavirus-related death in 37 days, and for 22 days in North Lincolnshire.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson is set to hold a news conference on Monday evening, where he will confirm the coronavirus rules to be relaxed from July 19.

The changes will see almost all restrictions lifted, including:

The end of one metre-plus social distancing

The limits on visitors to care homes will be lifted

The legal limits on people meeting indoors and outdoors will be removed

All businesses will be allowed to reopen, including night clubs

The request to work from home where possible will also be scrapped

No COVID certificate will be required to enter any venue or event – though businesses may choose to require some way to show COVID status

However, changes to mask rules have caused a stir, and the government has backtracked slightly this weekend, urging people to wear them indoors – though there still won't be any official rules to do so.

Health ministers said they trust the British people to take personal responsibility for their safety and that of others.

Coronavirus data for Greater Lincolnshire up to (including) Sunday, July 11

69,207 cases (up 1,115)

46,227 in Lincolnshire (up 548)

10,759 in North Lincolnshire (up 148)

12,221 in North East Lincolnshire (up 419)

2,196 deaths (no change)

1,622 from Lincolnshire (no change)

302 from North Lincolnshire (no change)

272 from North East Lincolnshire (no change)

of which 1,314 hospital deaths (no change)

816 at United Lincolnshire Hospitals Trust (no change)

43 at Lincolnshire Community Health Service hospitals (no change)

1 at Lincolnshire Partnership Foundation Trust (no change)

454 in Northern Lincolnshire (NLAG) (no change)

5,121,245 UK cases, 128,425 deaths