No Covid deaths recorded in the past week in Lincolnshire while infection rates drop slightly

There were no COVID-related deaths last week in Lincolnshire, but 50 new cases have been recorded over the weekend in the county.

However, the numbers mean there has only been a 0.9 per cent drop in cases week-on-week.

NHS England has stopped reporting hospital deaths at weekends, meaning the latest figures from May 14, show 1,305 deaths have been recorded since the start of the pandemic – the seventh day without a hospital death in a Greater Lincolnshire hospital.

In South Kesteven the infection rate has come down to 18.3 per 100,000 people, with a total of 266 deaths in the district since the pandemic began and 7,608 cases.

Over the weekend, national cases increased to 4,450,777, while deaths rose to 127,679.

Since last Wednesday, Greater Lincolnshire’s infection rates have risen slightly but remain stable at around the 30 per 100,000 of the population.

England has seen an infection rate increase due to large outbreaks of the Indian coronavirus variant, which has also been found in a handful of cases in Lincolnshire.

North Lincolnshire, South Holland, Boston and Lincoln have all seen increases in their rates since Wednesday, North East Lincolnshire has remained at the same level and the other districts have seen decreases.

North Kesteven now has the lowest infection rate in our region, with North Lincolnshire having the highest.

In national news, pubs, bars, restaurants, and other hospitality venues are able to reopen indoors as the easing of the coronavirus lockdown continues from today (Monday, May 17).

This is part of the government’s roadmap, which is moving onto step three of four, ahead of all restrictions being lifted on June 21.

However, there are fears that the easing of restrictions will lead to an increase in the more transmissible Indian variant of coronavirus, which has led to an increase in hospitalisations in areas in the country such a Bolton, where mass vaccination and surge testing is ongoing.

The UK has “increasing confidence” that COVID-19 vaccines work against the Indian variant of the virus, the health secretary has said.

Scientists believe that the variant is more transmissible and cases of it nearly tripled to 1,313 in the past week in England.

In Friday’s Downing Street press conference, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said: “I have to level with you that this new variant could pose a serious disruption to our progress, and could make it more difficult to move to step four in June, and I must stress that we will do whatever it takes to keep the public safe.”