The 7-day case rate in Rutland has dropped again, reflecting national trends.

England's smallest county also returned to recording no fatalities, after the weekend saw its first deaths since April.

Today, Rutland recorded 16 positive tests with Covid 19, compared with 12 yesterday, 17 on Monday and 29 over the weekend. This compares with 23 last Wednesday and 17 the Wednesday before.

The 7-day rate is now 285.5 cases per 100,000, compared to Sunday's peak of 388.2, 350.6 on Monday and 310.6 yesterday. Last Wednesday, it was 290.5 and it was 182.8 the Tuesday before.

Whilst the Rutland 7-day rate has fluctuated a little, the England average has steadily risen in recent weeks until Friday's peak of 540, which fell to 523.1 on Sunday, 499.4 on Monday, 447.6 yesterday and 401.4 today.

However, there has been a large increase in testing recently, with around a million tests a day and 7 million over the past week, though yesterday saw around 800,000 tests, giving a weekly figure of 6.1 million.

Rutland has now recorded 2190 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-12.

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

Nationally, the UK today recorded 27,734 new coronavirus cases and 91 more deaths.

The figures compare with 23,511 infections and 131 deaths reported on Tuesday, and 44,104 cases and 73 deaths this time last week.

However, despite the rise in cases, the seven-day average was 36.1% down from the previous week. The past week has seen 231,458 people testing positive with the virus, down 120,412 on the week before.

The number of deaths over the past 7 days is 498, an increase of 132 or 36.1 per cent on the week before.

Since the pandemic began, some 129,430 people have died in the UK within 28 days of a positive COVID test.