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There have been 643 new coronavirus cases and 31 COVID-related deaths in Greater Lincolnshire so far this week – compared to 1,005 cases and 26 deaths by this time last week.

The government’s COVID-dashboard on Friday recorded 79 new cases in Lincolnshire, 28 in North East Lincolnshire and 23 in North Lincolnshire.

The latest data takes the total number of cases in Greater Lincolnshire to over 54,000.

On Friday, seven deaths were registered in Lincolnshire. These include deaths both in and out of hospitals, as well as residents in hospitals outside the county.

NHS England reported six new local hospital deaths – five at United Lincolnshire Hospitals Trust and one at Northern Lincolnshire and Goole Hospitals Trust. This brings the total of hospital deaths so far this week to 24, a rise from 11 last week.

National cases increased by 5,947 to 4,207,304, while deaths rose by 236 to 124,261.

In local news, the number of coronavirus patients in Greater Lincolnshire hospitals has reduced by nearly 24% in less than three weeks.
COVID-19 testing in Lincolnshire is being scaled back as part of government plans to expand home testing as children return to school.

The vaccination drive continues with a fifth of the Lincolnshire population immunised (271,604 jabs).

A graph showing Lincolnshire’s case numbers up to March 5.

However, Lincolnshire parents are being warned not to change their behaviour on the playground as schools go back next week.

Nationally, Office for National Statistics data shows that the number of coronavirus infections in the UK continued to fall.

In the seven days up to February 27, around 280,000 people were confirmed positive, a drop of about a third on the most recent date.

The latest R number – the number of people that one infected person will pass the virus on to – is between 0.7 and 0.9.

From Monday, care home residents will be allowed to have a regular indoor visitor as long as they take a coronavirus lateral flow test before entry and wear personal protective equipment (PPE).

Hugging and kissing their relatives will be forbidden, although hand holding will be permitted.

Elsewhere, meeting up with one other person outdoors – for example sitting together in a park with coffee, drink, or picnic, will also be permitted.

Further relaxation is hoped to happen from March 29, when the rule of six will again be allowed, along with outdoor sports facilities reopening and the stay at home rule ending.

In a press conference on Friday evening health secretary Matt Hancock welcomed the news that a mystery person in the UK infected with the COVID variant of concern first found in Brazil had now been traced.

He said the ‘unbreakable link’ between cases, hospitalisation and deaths was ‘being broken’ due to the vaccine rollout – but added testing still remains ‘critical’.

Coronavirus data for Greater Lincolnshire on Friday, March 5

54,126 cases (up 130)

• 38,170 in Lincolnshire (up 79)
• 8,149 in North Lincolnshire (up 23)
• 7,807 in North East Lincolnshire (up 28)

2,105 deaths (up 7)

• 1,549 from Lincolnshire (up 7)
• 300 from North Lincolnshire (no change)
• 256 from North East Lincolnshire (no change)

of which 1,244 hospital deaths (up six)

• 772 at United Lincolnshire Hospitals Trust (up five)
• 41 at Lincolnshire Community Health Service hospitals (no change)
• 1 at Lincolnshire Partnership Foundation Trust (no change)
• 430 in Northern Lincolnshire (NLAG) (up one)

4,207,304 UK cases, 124,261 deaths

A Boston man who amassed a collection of thousand of illegal images after becoming addicted to downloading child abuse images was jailed at Lincoln Crown Court on Friday.

Howard Angel was arrested after police raided his home and took away a laptop computer.

Tony Stanford, prosecuting, said that the following day Angel went to Grantham Police Station and confessed.

“He said he had been stupid. He was interviewed. He was relatively frank. He said he wanted help.

“He said ‘I shouldn’t have done it but I did’. He said he became addicted and hooked on it.”

Mr Stanford said that later Angel’s then wife handed police a second laptop which she found in the attic.

When police examined the two laptops they found that Angel had been accessing child abuse images for nine years.

A total of 16,944 illegal images of children were on the devices including 2,641 in the most serious category.

Angel, 59, of Wyberton West Road, Boston, admitted three charges of making indecent images of children between March 2010 and May 2019.

He was jailed for 10 months and given a 15 year sexual harm prevention order. He was also placed on the sex offenders’ register for 10 years.

Recorder Charles Falk, passing sentence, told him: “What tips the balance here is the length of time you have been offending which is nine years.

“That and the fact that this is a very large collection makes this a case that is so serious that only immediate custody can be justified.”

Michael Cranmer-Brown, in mitigation, said that Angel had lost everything as a result of what he did.

“When this came to light his world was turned upside down. He had been in a marriage for over 20 years. He has children. He has effectively been rejected by them all.

“He has been kicked out of his family home and he is now divorced from his wife. In addition he has suffered the loss of his job. Having disclosed to his employer about his conviction he has been sacked.”

Mr Cranmer-Brown said that since his arrest Angel has sought help and urged that he should not receive an immediate prison sentence.

Two slaughtered sheep have been found at a farm in Louth with police investigating a potential illegal butchery.

The animals’ heads and feet were found at Highfield Farm, Cadwell, Louth at around 7.30am on Thursday, March 4.

The carcasses of the sheep were taken, with the head and feet left behind, and police are trying to find those responsible.

It is believed to have happened at some point overnight on Wednesday night into the early hours of Thursday morning.

Sgt James Perring, one of Lincolnshire Police’s Rural, Wildlife and Heritage Crime Officers, said: “This type of crime causes a major impact on the victim, but can also have an impact on the wider community.

“We will not tolerate this sort of criminal behaviour and we are determined to root out those responsible.

“Illegal butchery is a serious offence. Not only are there risks in consuming meat when it isn’t from a reputable source, but illegal butchery can also cause unnecessary suffering to the animal.”

Officers are appealing for information from anyone who may have witnessed anything suspicious, or anyone who may have been offered meat for sale in the area.

If you can assist, call 101 or email [email protected] and quote incident 47 of March 4.