Rutland's 7-day case fell over the weekend, in contrast many other places, including nationally.

The county is also reached 9 weeks without a single fatality.

Over the weekend, England's smallest county recorded 41 cases, compared with 24 on Friday, 26 on Thursday, 28 last weekend, and 30 the weekend before.

This gives the district a 7-day infection rate of 284.1 cases per 100,000 of population, compared with 289.1 cases on Friday, 276.7 on Thursday, 276.7 last Sunday and 392.8 the Sunday two weeks ago,

The county now has recorded 3221 having tested positive with the virus since the pandemic started- about one-in-13 of its population- better than England's one-in-9 of the population.

Rutland has now gone 9 weeks without a Covid-related fatality.

Public Health England figures say the last such death was on the weekend of July 25.

Since the pandemic started, 66 county residents have died within 28 days of testing positive. This is about one for every 600 residents, which compares with the national average of one-in-500 residents.

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

Meanwhile, in Lincolnshire, South Kesteven has recorded 180 cases of Covid-19 over the weekend, fuelling an increase in its 7-day case rate of half in just a few days.

But emphasising its fluctuating nature, the 7-day rate is still a well below the levels of several weeks ago.

The weekend's 180 cases compares with 73 on Friday, 89 on Thursday, 55 last weekend, and 108 the weekend before.

The current weekly infection rate of 314.9 cases per 100,000 compares with 243.7 on Friday, 221.3 on Thursday, 206 on Wednesday, 199.7 last Sunday and 311.4 two weeks ago.

With its fluctuations, South Kesteven still has a lower 7-day infection rate than Lincolnshire's 325.2, which also rose strongly over the weekend, and England's 302.6 both of which have been far more consistent than the district.

Overall, since the pandemic started, South Kesteven has recorded 13,050 positive tests - about one case for each 11 residents. Again, this is better than the England average, which is about one case for every 9 people.

The figures come amid much testing, currently running around 1.1 million or 6.7 million over a week nationally.

The government's UK Covid-19 tracker also recorded no deaths in South Kesteven over the weekend. But there was one last Monday, the sixth recorded in South Kesteven during September.

The six September fatalities compare with ten in August.

Prior to the August and September deaths, South Kesteven reported such fatalities on May 5 and March 25, making it 16 Covid related deaths in over 5 months.

It means since the pandemic started, official government figures record 286 fatalities in South Kesteven within 28 days of a positive test for Covid-19.

The total amounts to 199.7 deaths per 100,000, which is equivalent to one fatality for just over 500 residents.

The England average is one death for just under 500 residents.

Meanwhile, there were 4,510 cases of coronavirus confirmed in Greater Lincolnshire last week, as a BBC Panorama programme says people are being "forced into private healthcare" due to long waiting lists.

Government figures over the weekend showed 834 new cases in Lincolnshire, 147 in North East Lincolnshire and 279 in North Lincolnshire. The total weekly figure so far is 10.22% higher than last week's 4,092.

Five further deaths of Greater Lincolnshire residents were confirmed in the government figures with three in Lincolnshire and one each in North and North East Lincolnshire. It means the weekly total is 21- equal to last week's figure.

NHS figures, however, are not updated over the weekend, leaving the total at 14 – two higher than last week's 12.

Data shared with BBC Panorama has shown waiting lists across the UK have grown by 50% in the most deprived parts of England since the start of the pandemic. In the most affluent areas it is nearly 35%.

There are fears people will be forced to go private to get treatment.

Anita Charlesworth, chief economist at the Health Foundation think tank told the BBC: "The big worry about long waits leading people to have to go private is that it will increase inequalities, but also that many people will be forced to make awful trade-offs over their finances in order to be able to get access to the care that they need when they need it.

"And that goes against every grain of why we set up the health service," she said.

In Lincolnshire, in June, around 65,000 people were reportedly waiting for treatment in Lincolnshire's hospitals, with more than 3,800 in the queue for more than a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

As a comparison, in March 2020, just seven people waited more than 52 weeks for treatment. The figure was then at 3,856.