Rutland has recorded 17 Covid-19 cases today, compared with 20 yesterday.

The figure has further small decrease in the county's 7-day infection rate, but it remains than the England average.

Whilst the national scene is improving faster, the current Rutland 7-day case rate is now 303.9 cases per 100,000 of population, compared with a peak of 313.1 yesterday and its recent low of 242.9 on Sunday.

Last Thursday, the rate was 270.5 cases per 100,000 and it was 318.1 the Thursday before.

England's smallest county also continues to record no fatalities, after last weekend saw its first death since April.

Whilst the Rutland 7-day rate has fluctuated a little, the England average has steadily risen in recent weeks until last Friday's peak of 540 almost a fortnight ago, which has since fallen to 283.7 today.

However, there has been a large increase in testing recently, with around a million tests a day and 7 million over a past week, though in recent days it has fallen to 845,000 yesterday and 5.3M over a week.

Rutland has now recorded 2329 cases recorded since the start of the pandemic- about one case for every 18 residents. This compares with the England average of about one-in-11.

The number of deaths is now 66, about one for every 600 residents, which compares with the national average of one-in-500 residents.

Prior to the latest fatality about ten days ago, the last recorded such death in England's smallest county was on Wednesday April 28. Before that it was Thursday March 25.

South Kesteven has recorded 58 cases of Covid-19 today.

The number has further increased the district's 7-day infection rate to its highest in over a week.

The 58 positive tests compares with 64 positive tests recorded yesterday and 41 on Tuesday.

It also compares with last Thursday's 51 positive tests and 46 the Thursday before.

In Lincolnshire, the 7-day rate for South Kesteven is now 236.7 cases per 100,000, compared with 231.7 yesterday, 226.1 last Thursday and 342.6 the Wednesday before.

Overall, there have been 9618 cases in South Kesteven since the start of the pandemic- equivalent to about one for about 15 residents in the district, which compares to the England average of one-in-11.

The number of fatalities stands at 272, after increasing one on Tuesday, which followed on from a further fatality at the weekend.

Prior to those cases, the only other recent cases of people dying with Covid in South Kesteven were on May 5 and March 25.

This means the district has recorded 4 deaths in just over 4 months.

Meanwhile, Lincoln continues to have the highest COVID infection rate in England on Thursday, with its seven-day rate increasing from 716 per 100,000 population to 741.

Government figures released on Thursday showed 405 new cases in Lincolnshire, 105 in North Lincolnshire and 120 in North East Lincolnshire. The 630 case total is 2% higher than last Thursday's 618 cases.

There were no coronavirus-related deaths in the government figures today in the Lincolnshire region.

However, NHS figures reported one further death in Greater Lincolnshire's hospital facilities today.

Around a quarter of under 30s in Lincolnshire still have not had their first dose of COVID-19 vaccination as youth hotspots are blamed for Lincoln sitting top of the national rankings for its infection rate.

Vaccine figures released by the government on Thursday showed Lincolnshire health staff had now given out 1,030,246 cumulative doses, up 11,030 on the previous week's 1,019,216 total. That's 2,026 doses fewer than the previous week's 13,056.

According to the figures released today, 74% of 18-24-year-olds in Lincolnshire have received their first dose, while 76.2% of 25-29-year-olds have had theirs. The figures are up only slightly from last week's 73.5% and 75.3% respectively.

Elsewhere, changes to the government's travel list will see fully-vaccinated passengers from France no longer having to isolate, alongside several other EU countries.

The new rules, which come in from 4am on Sunday, August 8, will see Austria, Germany, Latvia, Norway, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia move to green list on the government's traffic light system.

Meanwhile, Bahrain, India, Qatar and UAE will move to the amber list from the red list. And Georgia, Mayotte, Mexico and Reunion will move to the red list.

New figures have shown that the number of COVID-19 app alerts fell by 43% in England and Wales in the last week of July, official statistics show. Nearly 396,000 people were pinged, compared with the previous week's 690,129.

The number of people testing positive for COVID-19 in England has dropped by 39% according to the latest Test and Trace figures.

In the week to July 28, a total of 189,232 people tested positive for the virus in England.

Further data from the Office for National Statistics have revealed around 945,000 in the UK have experienced long COVID in the four weeks to July 4.

Around 380,000 people in the UK have experienced symptoms of long COVID for at least a year, the ONS has said.