Devon covid cases down

Lowest figure for two months

The number of new coronavirus cases in Devon and Cornwall has fallen to its lowest in two months.

Last week 1,047 new cases were confirmed across the two counties, although Exeter, the South Hams, and West Devon saw small rises, while Torridge’s figures rose significantly, skewed slightly by a high level of backdating. In the previous week, 1,266 new cases were confirmed.

Of the new cases, 146 were in Cornwall, 149 in East Devon, 149 in Exeter, 51 in Mid Devon, 95 in North Devon, 165 in Plymouth, 38 in South Hams, 48 in Teignbridge, 67 in Torbay, 94 in Torridge, and 45 in West Devon.

The number of people in hospital in the south west also fell last week and was at 826 from 938 as at Friday 27 November, with 60 patients in mechanical ventilation beds, down from 67 the week before.

NHS England figures show that as of Tuesday 1 December, 255 patients across Devon and Cornwall were in hospital after a positive Covid-19 test, down from 272 the week before. Exeter's Nightingale Hospital in Exeter received its first 20 covid patients.

The figures show there were 101 patients in the Royal Devon and Exeter (down from 128), 45 in Derriford Hospital in Plymouth (down from 53), 28 in Torbay Hospital (down from 35), and 37 in North Devon District Hospital (up from 29).

In the last week, there 22 deaths within hospitals in Devon and Cornwall within 28 days of a positive Covid-19 death: 10 in Exeter, three in Torbay, eight in Plymouth, one in North Devon, and one in Cornwall.

The R-Rate for the South West fell to a range between 0.7-1.0 from 0.9-1.1