March 16, 2021 6.02 pm This story is over 36 months old

129 COVID-19 cases and four deaths in Greater Lincolnshire on Tuesday

AstraZeneca vaccine “saves lives”
| Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite

There have been 129 new coronavirus cases and four COVID-related deaths in Greater Lincolnshire on Tuesday — a minor increase from 128 cases and three deaths this time last week.

The government’s COVID-19 dashboard recorded 81 new cases in Lincolnshire, 28 in North Lincolnshire and 20 in North East Lincolnshire.

On Tuesday, three deaths were registered in Lincolnshire, one in North East Lincolnshire and -1 in North Lincolnshire. Fluctuations in data are usually due to some deaths in those areas being reallocated to other regions across the UK or a miscount. These figures include deaths both in and out of hospitals, as well as residents in hospitals outside the county.

NHS England has reported seven new local hospital deaths at Northern Lincolnshire and Goole NHS Foundation Trust and one at United Lincolnshire Hospitals Trust.

On Tuesday, national cases increased by 5,294 to 4,268,821, while deaths rose by 110 to 125,690.

In local news, Lincolnshire’s health bosses said the AstraZeneca vaccine is safe and “saves lives” after several European countries stopped administering it over blood clot concerns.

Lincolnshire County Council’s assistant director for public health Andy Fox said the temporary bans on the vaccine globally were “mind-boggling”.

A school in Gainsborough has closed as Lincolnshire County Council also revealed that 31 local schools have reported 56 positive test results in the last seven days.

St George’s Church of England Community Primary School is the only school reported to the council to have fully closed. It is expected to reopen on Monday, March 22.

South Lincolnshire’s COVID-19 infection rates are still some of the highest in the country and the weekend has also seen spikes across Northern Lincolnshire.

Health bosses are putting the consistently high south Lincolnshire infection rates down to the working age population going out to earn money and working in essential food production factories.

Here’s Greater Lincolnshire’s infection rate up to March 15 according to the government’s dashboard:

Greater Lincolnshire’s infection rates from Mar 8 to Mar 15. | Data: Gov UK / Table: James Mayer for The Lincolnite

In national news, British and European regulators rushed to the defence of the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine on Monday night as six more countries stopped using it over unconfirmed links to blood clots.

Germany, France, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands and Portugal announced temporary pauses pending an investigation by the European Medicines Agency (EMA), which is due to report by Thursday.

The UK suffered its worst day for COVID-19 deaths during the second wave of the virus, new analysis confirms.

A total of 1,463 deaths occurred on January 19 where COVID-19 was mentioned on the death certificate. This is four more than the 1,459 deaths that occurred on April 8, 2020, which was previously the UK’s “deadliest day”.

Lincolnshire’s COVID cases up to March 16.

Coronavirus data for Greater Lincolnshire on Tuesday, March 16

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

55,764 cases (up 129)

  • 39,140 in Lincolnshire (up 81)
  • 8,483 in North Lincolnshire (up 28)
  • 8,141 in North East Lincolnshire (up 20)

2,137 deaths (up four)

  • 1,575 from Lincolnshire (up three)
  • 299 from North Lincolnshire (down one)
  • 263 from North East Lincolnshire (up one)

of which 1,279 hospital deaths (up eight)

  • 794 at United Lincolnshire Hospitals Trust (up one)
  • 41 at Lincolnshire Community Health Service hospitals (no change)
  • 1 at Lincolnshire Partnership Foundation Trust (no change)
  • 443 in Northern Lincolnshire (NLAG) (up seven)

4,268,821 UK cases, 125,690 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.