Rutland has recorded 7 cases today- a third of yesterday's number- but its 7 day case rate has increased further.

But once more no deaths were recorded, with the county not experiencing a Covid-related fatality since April.

Today's 7 is a slump on the 20 cases yesterday and 23 on Wednesday, but our 7-day rate at its highest in months,

Last Friday saw 20 cases and and there were 7 the Friday before.

After declining last week, the 7-day rate has turned strongly upwards and is now 345.6 cases per 100,000 compared with 318.1 cases per 100,000 yesterday.

Last Friday, it stood at 167.8- less than half today's figure- and it was 207.9 the Friday before that.

Whilst the Rutland figure has fluctuated a little, the England average has steadily risen in recent weeks and is much higher at 540 cases per 100,000. A week ago it was at 360.4 cases per 100,000.

However, there has been a large increase in testing recently, with more than a million yesterday and 7 million over the past week.

Rutland has now recorded 2116 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 remains at 65, about one for every 600 residents, which compares with the national average of one-in-500 residents.

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 recorded 42 cases today, slightly down on yesterday and the day before, suggesting the figures may soon start heading back again soon.

Either way, the district has now gone more than 11 weeks without recording a Covid-related fatality.

Today's 42 positive tests, adds to the 46 positive tests recorded yesterday, further increasing the 7-day case rate from 342.6.4 cases per 100,000 yesterday to 345.6 today, making it the highest in months.

Last Friday, it stood at 200.15 and 131.3 cases per 100,000 the Friday before.

However, despite the sharp increases, it remains well below the England average.

Last Friday, South Kesteven recorded 109 cases and 56 the Thursday before.

Overall, there have been 8979 cases in South Kesteven since the start of the pandemic- equivalent to about one for about 16 residents in the district.

Nationally, 64 deaths were recorded today, 402 over the past week, but South Kesteven hasn't recorded such a death since 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 15 weeks.

The overall total remains at 270, about one for each 600 of the population, compared to the England average of one-in-500.

Overall, there have been 3,130 new cases of coronavirus in Greater Lincolnshire so far this week as Lincolnshire shows "shoots of possibility" that numbers might be "topping out".

The government's COVID-19 dashboard on Friday reported 333 new cases in Lincolnshire, 186 in North East Lincolnshire and 93 in North Lincolnshire.

The figure is 28% lower than last Friday's 854 cases – and 6.5% down on the 3,351 cases by this time last week.

There were no deaths reported in NHS figures today, however, there have been three so far this week in the region's hospitals, while government data has recorded the death of five residents.

Nationally on Friday, cases increased by 36,389 to 5,637,975 while deaths rose by 64 to 129,044.

Nationally, the latest data from the Office for National Statistics has shown that almost 750,000 people in private households are likely to have had coronavirus in the week to July 17.

It equates to one in 75 people and is up from the one in 95 the ONS calculated the week before.

Meanwhile, England's R number – which represents how many people an infected person passes the virus on to – has stayed steady at between 1.2 and 1.4 this week.

Public Health England has confirmed a new variant is under investigation in the UK. As of Thursday, 16 cases of the Lambda variant – first seen in Peru – had been confirmed in England.

It is not yet considered a variant of concern but will be investigated and risk assessed.

Government bosses have announced a list of exemptions to the self-isolation rules currently governing contact tracing of the virus.

Critical parts of the food industry, for instance, will be allowed to carry out daily COVID testing instead.

It comes as bosses warned of staff shortages after a record 613,903 alerts were sent to users of the NHS COVID app in the week to July 14.

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) has also confirmed that the Moderna vaccine has been approved for children aged 12-17.