CORONAVIRUS: More than 700 cases of Covid-19 now confirmed in Lincolnshire

Tony McGinty, assistant director of public health at Lincolnshire County Council, put a recent rise in numbers down to increased testing of key workers.

It comes as a further 43 cases were confirmed positive on Thursday (April 23) in Lincolnshire.

The county also saw its biggest spike in new cases on Wednesday, when 76 people were tested positive.

Mr McGinty said the county’s testing capabilities, which includes three facilities in Lincoln and Boston, would mean more would be found.

“The more tests that we do, the more of the disease that we will find,” he said.

“We have really started to ramp up our testing in the county.”

It comes as the government plans to increase testing capacity for thousands of key workers across the country.

Local health bosses recently set a target for 1,000 tests per day across the sites in Lincoln and Boston.

Last night, the government announced a further testing site at the Lincolnshire Showground.

Mr McGInty confirmed that the site will replace the current three facilities in the region “if the new facility works well”.

Meanwhile, officials have also said that around 150 contact tracers will be needed in the county after lockdown.

It comes as the government announced it will aim to train contact tracers within weeks in order to relax the restrictions.

A further 218 cases have been confirmed in North Lincolnshire, and 104 in North East Lincolnshire.