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There have been 263 new coronavirus cases in Greater Lincolnshire on Thursday and three COVID-related deaths, compared to 195 cases and two deaths this time last week,

The government’s COVID-19 dashboard recorded 204 new cases in Lincolnshire, 36 in North East Lincolnshire and 23 in North Lincolnshire.

On Thursday, two deaths was registered in Lincolnshire and one in North Lincolnshire. These figures include deaths both in and out of hospitals, as well as residents in hospitals outside the county. North Lincolnshire deaths have now hit 300.

NHS England reported four new local hospital deaths, including two at United Lincolnshire Hospitals Trust and two at Northern Lincolnshire and Goole NHS Foundation Trust.

On Thursday, national cases increased by 9,985 to 4,154,562 while deaths rose by 323 to 122,070. Some 18.6 million have had their first jab.

In local news, the latest NHS England figures show that nearly 240,000 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been administered in Lincolnshire so far.

The weekly data released on Thursday shows 237,027 jabs have taken place between December 8 and February 21 — up by 34,228 on the previous week. However, that figure is lower week on week (36,828 last week and 38,365 the week before).

The UK’s COVID-19 alert level has been downgraded as the threat of the NHS being overwhelmed recedes.

The UK’s chief medical officers said the alert level should move from 5 to 4 as the numbers of patients in hospital are “consistently declining and the threat of the NHS and other health services being overwhelmed within 21 days has receded”.

Level 4 means transmission of COVID-19 is now “high or rising exponentially” compared with level 5, the highest level, where there was “a risk of healthcare services being overwhelmed”.

Police have handed out nearly 70,000 fines to people for breaching COVID-19 lockdown rules since they came into force, with more than 6,000 issued in a single week, new data shows.

Figures published by the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) on Thursday show that a total of 68,952 Fixed Penalty Notices (FPNs) were issued by forces.

More surge testing will be rolled out in Ealing after additional cases of the coronavirus variant first identified in South Africa were detected.

It is an extension of testing which was started in the west London borough earlier this month following the discovery of previous cases.

Here’s Greater Lincolnshire’s infection rate numbers up to February 25 according to the government dashboard:

Greater Lincolnshire’s infection rates from Feb 17 to Feb 24. | Data: Gov UK / Table: James Mayer for The Lincolnite

Coronavirus data for Greater Lincolnshire on Thursday, February 25

Greater Lincolnshire includes Lincolnshire and the unitary authorities of North and North East (Northern) Lincolnshire.

53,054 cases (up 263)

• 37,468 in Lincolnshire (up 204)
• 7,969 in North Lincolnshire (up 23)
• 7,617 in North East Lincolnshire (up 36)

2,060 deaths (up three)

• 1,513 from Lincolnshire (up two)
• 300 from North Lincolnshire (up one)
• 247 from North East Lincolnshire (no change)

of which 1,213 hospital deaths (up four)

• 752 at United Lincolnshire Hospitals Trust (up two)
• 41 at Lincolnshire Community Health Service hospitals (no change)
• 1 at Lincolnshire Partnership Foundation Trust (no change)
• 419 in Northern Lincolnshire (NLAG) (up two)

4,154,562 UK cases, 122,070 deaths

DATA SOURCE — FIGURES CORRECT AT THE TIME OF the latest update. postcode data includes deaths not in healthcare facilities or in hospitals outside authority boundaries.

A prolific and aggressive beggar who caused issues in Lincoln and North Hykeham has been issued with a criminal behaviour order by Lincolnshire Police.

The man caused issues particularly around The Forum in North Hykeham and the Tritton Road retail parks in Lincoln — but police would not name him.

He failed to engage with support offered to him and became very aggressive with his begging. This included approaching cars that were pulling into car parks and opening their doors to ask for change.

He was also abusive to shop staff who asked him to stop harassing their customers.

The man already had an existing CBO from the Nottinghamshire area for similar behaviour, but that only applied to areas within that county.

On one occasion, he also told Lincolnshire officers he did not care about criminal behaviour orders. A CBO was issued to the man after work between Lincolnshire Police and the city council’s intervention team.

Lincoln Police said: “We are sure he will when our city centre team start arresting him for breaches and he finds himself facing a custodial sentence.

“This is slow painstaking work building up a real picture of the individual’s behaviour for the court but it will ultimately reduce the negative impact he has had on the community.

This comes after police said in September last year that there had been an increase in the number of people begging at The Forum in North Hykeham.

It was highlighted as a place which is “lucrative to beg”.

Lincolnshire health bosses said there have been no hospital admissions with flu cases during this season, which can be put down to the national lockdown, social distancing and face coverings being widely worn.

However, this doesn’t mean the virus has completely disappeared, it is just not spreading as fast.

This comes as Public Health England has not recorded a single case of flu so far this year through routine surveillance tests, despite it being the height of the usual flu season.

Andy Fox, Assistant Director of Public Health at Lincolnshire County Council said: “We’ve seen no hospital admissions due to a confirmed case of influenza and a very low rate of GP consultations, close to zero, for influenza.

“This is good news and demonstrates how effective lockdown measures, as well as social distancing and wearing of face coverings, can be in preventing transmission of respiratory viruses.”

He added: “It’s a reminder that, although influenza is expected to be circulating, the hands, face, space guidance can prevent outbreaks and infections – whether it’s COVID-19 or other viruses, such as influenza.”