Another record day for new COVID cases in Lincolnshire

There has been another record breaking day in Greater Lincolnshire on Thursday, with 1,321 new cases of coronavirus confirmed.

The latest government data has reported 1,008 cases in Lincolnshire itself, 165 in North East Lincolnshire and 148 in North Lincolnshire. There was one death of a Lincolnshire resident confirmed in the past 24 hours.

The last record day was 1,007 on Monday of this week. There were 119,789 cases nationally today and 147 deaths.

Nationally, government figures show the number of coronavirus cases in the UK has increased by 235,787 – or 53.3% – in the last seven days, compared to the previous week.

A total of 840,038 booster and third doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been reported in the UK today, according to new figures from the UK’s four health agencies.

More than half of those aged 45 and above have had their COVID-19 booster jab in Lincolnshire, with just one full day to go before Christmas, the latest data shows.

Statistics released every Thursday by the government show that of those eligible, 50.5% of 45-49-year-olds have taken up the third dose of the coronavirus vaccine, with the number rising to 96.2% of 75-79-year-olds, but falling at the 80+ with 86.3%.

Around 45% of 40-44 year-olds have taken up the offer – not far off the half-way mark.

Earlier today, health secretary Sajid Javid told news outlets that government would not announce any post-Christmas restrictions this week.

He said there was “still a lot of uncertainty” around Omicron variant, but said studies ” suggest that the risk of hospitalisation is lower than Delta, that of course is good, that’s encouraging news”.

However, he said it’s “not very clear yet though on how much that risk is reduced.”

Mr Javid continued to urge people to get their booster jabs adding: “The best Christmas present you could give anyone this Christmas is to get boosted now.”