Scunthorpe United sign Bolton Wanderers defender George Taft on loan until the end of the season.

BBC Weather

Today will be cold and mostly dry with a mixture of bright spells and some banks of cloud.

Staying dry and cold into this evening. Gentle winds.

Tonight will be cold albeit with clear spells gradually giving way to increasing amounts of cloud.

A chance of some spots of rain or a few light snow flurries by dawn. Gentle winds.

The leader of Lincolnshire County Council has backed the authority's decision to raise council tax by 2%.

Image source, PA Media

The council announced the decision on Tuesday, saying the pandemic had put a huge strain on its services.

Councillors said a rise was needed so the authority can invest in the county's infrastructure as well as maintain day-to-day services.

Councillor Martin Hill says the money has to come from somewhere:

The affected churches faced a combined repair bill of more than £2m, a court hears.

We can see how the weekly death rate across Wales and England unfolded, up to Christmas.

A Lincolnshire head teacher has criticised the decision to allow vocational exams to go ahead this month, even though GCSEs and A-Levels planned for summer have been cancelled.

Image source, David Davies/PA Wire

The government has left it up to individual schools to decide whether they should take place.

Further education college leaders had complained this was unfair to students, saying they would face "stress" from taking exams in the lockdown.

The Department for Education said it recognised "this is a difficult time", but wanted to allow students who had prepared for exams and assessments to continue, including those who needed to take hands-on practical tests for qualifications for jobs.

However, Matthew Van Lier, head teacher of Haven High in Boston, says the move means staff have effectively been forced into holding them or risking damaging students' prospects.

Marcin Stolarek's body was found in a drainage channel in Boston on 12 January 2020.

People thinking of breaching new Covid-19 restrictions in East Yorkshire and northern Lincolnshire are being warned by Humberside Police to stay home or risk being fined.

Image source, PA Media

As England goes into its third lockdown, Assistant Ch Con Chris Noble said the rules will be enforced if people ignore them.

In a statement, he said: “While I understand some people are frustrated, I urge people to consider very carefully how they respond to these latest precautions over the next few weeks.

"We will use enforcement when we need to, and we will be issuing fines to anyone who is responsible for a flagrant breach of the rules," he added.

Officers will be patrolling "hot spot" areas and will tackle anyone who is "blatantly breaking the regulations or showing disregard for health and safety", the Humberside force said.

Rob England
BBC England Data Unit

A few days into England's third national lockdown, the East Midlands as a wider area covering Lincolnshire has one of the lowest regional infection rates in the country - but it is increasing.

The area recorded about 280 positive cases for every 100,000 people as of the latest figures, the sixth highest out of England’s nine regions.

But in context locally, this was an increase of nearly two thirds on the previous week.

Image source, .

Across Lincolnshire, South Kesteven had the highest infection rate of 412 cases per 100,000 people as of 1 January - this increased by a third on the previous week. North East Lincolnshire saw the lowest rate of about 168 cases per 100,000, one of the lowest in England.

South Kesteven saw the most people taking lab-based coronavirus tests as a percentage of the population in the latest week, with about 3% of people tested, although the number of tests seems to have fallen over the holiday period.

South Kesteven also recorded the highest percentage of positive lab-based tests, at about 14.3%. Experts have suggested a high positivity percentage means more testing is needed to detect undiagnosed cases in the community.

Hospital admissions do not seem to have changed dramatically over the last few weeks across Lincolnshire. United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust had 202 beds with coronavirus patients as of 30 December, falling from 246 a month ago. Admissions at Northern Lincolnshire and Goole NHS Foundation Trust also fell over the same period.

Overall, there seems to be a mixed picture across Lincolnshire in terms of the impact of coronavirus. Cases are rising in most places, but rates - compared to elsewhere in England - are still relatively low, making it difficult to assess the impact on local NHS capacity.

BBC Weather

This morning there will be spells of rain and showers for a time.

Some sunny spells are likely at times later in the morning, but it will become cloudy with further scattered showers in the afternoon.

Tonight will be a calm and cold night.

Clear spells will bring a touch of frost to a few places, but cloud and some patchy fog will develop over night with little wind. The odd shower is possible.

Council leaders are told to review plans to underwrite a £100,000 unveiling ceremony for the statue.

One hairdresser in Grimsby says she is "devastated" by the latest national lockdown.

There's the chance of some snow showers in Lincolnshire tonight.

Here's the latest forecast:

The first Oxford-AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccines are starting to be rolled out in Lincolnshire.

The jab is being given out at Boston Pilgrim hospital.

Dr Mi Joo Choi, who works in the intensive care unit at the hospital, was the first person in the county to receive it.

The trust which runs Lincoln County Hospital apologised for a delay in admitting patients.

Dr Mi Joo Choi said she was "extremely honoured" to receive the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine.

Zane Powles dropped off 135 meals for children on the first day of the new lockdown.

Council tax in Lincolnshire looks set to go up, with the county council saying the coronavirus pandemic has put more pressure on its services.

Image source, Google

Lincolnshire County Council is planning to increase its share of the tax by almost 2%, despite saying it understands the pandemic has hit people's finances hard.

The extra cash will also help them the authority make improvements to roads and schools, according to council leaders.

As England goes back into a new coronavirus lockdown, experts say there's no evidence that the new more infectious variant of Covid-19 is in Lincolnshire.

People are being told to stay at home once more after Boris Johnson said the country must "pull together" to curb the new variant of coronavirus which he said had led to 40% more patients than during the first peak in April.

However, Tony McGinty, assistant director of public health in Lincolnshire, says there are no signs the new variant is affecting Covid-19 infection rates in the county.

David Brown was seen driving his lorry for 20 minutes during a cabinet meeting in September.