448 further coronavirus cases in South Kesteven

The number of coronavirus cases in South Kesteven increased by 448 over the weekend, official figures show.

A total of 15,587 people had been confirmed as testing positive for Covid-19 in South Kesteven when the UK coronavirus daily dashboard was updated on October 18 (Monday), up from 15,139 on Friday.

The rate of infection in South Kesteven now stands at 10,883 cases per 100,000 people, lower than the England average of 12,779.

Across the UK, the number of recorded cases increased by 136,217 over the period, to 8,497,868.

However, there were no new coronavirus deaths recorded over the weekend in South Kesteven.

The dashboard shows 286 people had died in the area by October 18 (Monday) – which was unchanged from Friday.

It means there have been no deaths in the past week, which is the same as the previous week.

They were among 10,971 deaths recorded across the East Midlands.

The figures include anyone who died within 28 days of a positive test result for Covid-19, and whose usual residence was in South Kesteven.

Daily death counts are revised each day, with each case backdated to the actual date of death, so some areas might see their figures revised down.

Figures reported on a Monday are likely to be lower as a result of a lag in reporting deaths over the weekend.

The figures also show that four in five people in South Kesteven have received two doses of a Covid-19 vaccine.

The latest figures show 104,816 people had received both jabs by October 17 (Sunday) – 80% of those aged 12 and over, based on the number of people on the National Immunisation Management Service database.

Across England, 79% of people aged 12 and above had received a second dose of the jab.

Unlike at local level, the national rate was calculated using mid-2020 population estimates from the Office for National Statistics.