The number of new coronavirus cases confirmed across Devon and Cornwall in the previous seven days has fallen below 1,000 for the first time since the start of October.
A rolling weekly total of 869 new cases has been confirmed across the two counties – the lowest since the week ending October 2 – with the 104 cases confirmed on Friday the lowest since October 12.
But while cases are falling in most areas, there have been very small rises in Mid Devon, East Devon and Teignbridge.
Government statistics show that 869 new cases have been confirmed across the region in the past seven days in both pillar 1 data from tests carried out by the NHS and pillar 2 data from commercial partners, compared to 1,047 new cases confirmed last week.
Of the 869 new cases confirmed since December 4, a total of 103 were in Cornwall, 154 in East Devon, 111 in Exeter, 64 in Mid Devon, 92 in North Devon, 154 in Plymouth, 16 in South Hams, 56 in Teignbridge, 48 in Torbay, 30 in Torridge and 41 in West Devon.
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This compared to the 1,047 new cases confirmed between November 27 and December 3, of which 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.
Of the 869 new cases, 664 had a specimen dater between December 4 and December 10, with 69 in Cornwall, 109 in East Devon, 86 in Exeter, 51 in Mid Devon, 78 in North Devon, 136 in Plymouth, 11 in South Hams, 41 in Teignbridge, 32 in Torbay, 21 in Torridge and 30 in West Devon.
By specimen date, cases are falling in Cornwall, Exeter, the South Hams, Torridge, Torbay and West Devon, and are flat in East Devon and Plymouth - the latter seeing a small rise in the most recent day of data. Mid Devon and North Devon are seeing cases rise by an average of three cases a day, while Teignbridge’s rise is around 1.5 cases a day, with only the South Hams having a lower case rate.
Positive coronavirus cases in Cornwall by age range
The number of people in hospital in the South West though has risen slightly in the last seven days, now at 913 from 904 – the figures have been revised upwards in all areas of the UK – but there are now 51 patients in mechanical ventilation beds, down from 60 as of last Friday.
The number of patients in hospital across Devon and Cornwall following a positive Covid-19 test has fallen in the last week.
NHS England figures show that as of Tuesday morning (December 8), there were 231 patients across Devon and Cornwall in hospital after a positive Covid-19 test. This compares to 255 as of December 1.
Patient numbers within hospitals in Cornwall have decreased, as they have at the Royal Devon and Exeter, Derriford Hospital, Torbay Hospital and at Livewell South West facilities, while the numbers at North Devon District Hospital are unchanged.
The figures show there were five at the Royal Cornwall Hospital in Truro (unchanged) and two in Cornish Partnership Trust hospitals (down from six)
The Nightingale Hospital in Exeter has seen an increase in the number of patients, rising to 32 from 20 as of last week.
And the number of patients in Mechanical Ventilation beds has fallen as well, dropping from 19 to 12, with none in use in Cornwall by patients following a positive Covid-19 test.
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The figures show the amount of patients in hospital following a positive Covid-19 test who are currently occupying a bed.
But not every patient would necessarily have been admitted to hospital due to Covid-19, with a number of patients either contracting the virus inside the hospital, or being admitted for unrelated reasons but subsequently testing positive asymptotically when given routine tests.
In the last week, there have been 25 deaths within hospitals in Devon within 28 days of a positive Covid-19 death, with 14 in Exeter, seven in North Devon, three in Torbay, and one in Plymouth. No deaths in the last seven days have occurred in Cornwall.
And while NHS 111 data for Cornwall has fallen by 30 per cent in the last week, Devon’s has risen by ten per cent.
Cornwall coronavirus cases as of December 11
Cllr John Hart, the leader of Devon County Council and chair of Devon’s Local Outbreak Engagement Board, and Steve Brown, director of Public Health Devon (Designate) are warning that it is unlikely that Devon will see a return to Tier 1 before Christmas.
The comment comes ahead of the government’s review next week of the national tier allocations, and the possibility that some areas in the country could see their current restrictions loosen or tighten further.
Cllr Hart said: “As much as I would like to see restrictions lifted a little in order to support our local tourism and hospitality industry, I fear case numbers are not yet coming down sufficiently to warrant a move to Tier 1."
The COVID-19 cases are identified by taking specimens from people and sending these specimens to laboratories around the UK to be tested. If the test is positive, this is a referred to as a lab-confirmed case.
Confirmed positive cases are matched to ONS geographical area codes using the home postcode of the person tested.
Cases received from laboratories by 12.30am are included in the counts published that day. While there may have been new cases of coronavirus confirmed or people having tested positive, those test results either yet to reach PHE for adding to the dataset or were not received in time for the latest daily figures to be published.
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