Coronavirus crisis: Clusters in Exmouth area revealed

Recently released figures show there have been 92 new cases of coronavirus in East Devon. This brings the total number of confirmed cases to 397.

East Devon currently has 10 clusters; one of which is identified as Exmouth Brixington with five cases and Clyst, Exton and Lympstone with 10 cases.

More than 1,300 new coronavirus cases have been confirmed in the last seven days across Devon and Cornwall, but only 54 per cent relate to tests from the last week.

Government statistics show that 1,369 new cases have been confirmed across the region in the past seven days.

However, the large rise is partly down to the Public Health England database issues that they had last weekend that meant thousands of cases were not added to figures when they should have happened been, and therefore a lot of backdated cases that should be allocated to last week's figures were only added on Sunday and Monday.

The number of new cases confirmed in the Devon County Council area has risen to 903 - with two thirds of those cases in Exeter, and more than 80 per cent of them linked to the University.

Of the 1,369 new cases, 92 were in East Devon.

Elsewhere, 237 were in Cornwall, 603 in Exeter, 32 in Mid Devon, 38 in North Devon, 144 in Plymouth, 28 in the South Hams, 69 in Teignbridge, 85 in Torbay, 18 in Torridge, and 23 in West Devon.

Every region has seen cases more than double although this is partly due to the data backlogging issues at the start of the week.

Of the 1,369 new cases confirmed, 745 of the cases have a specimen date of between October 2 and October 8 with the other 624 cases dating back into September, and for a very small number of cases, the start of the month.

Of the 745 of the cases had a specimen date of between October 2 and October 8, 134 of Cornwall cases occurred in that period, with 45 in East Devon, 310 in Exeter, 17 in Mid Devon, 23 in North Devon, 15 in the South Hams, 45 in Teignbridge, 76 in Plymouth, 45 in Torbay, 8 in Torridge, and 15 in West Devon.

By specimen date, the most recent case in Torbay, Plymouth and Cornwall in October 8 and October 7 for the eight districts in Devon.

Of the cases with a specimen date of between September 29 to October 5, there are currently 96 clusters where three of more cases have been confirmed.

East Devon has ten clusters:

• Clyst, Exton and Lympstone (10)

• Exmouth Brixington (5)

• Honiton North and East, Poppleford, Otterton and Woodbury, Sidbury, Offwell and Beer, and Axminster (3)

• Feniton and Whimple, Exmouth Town, Ottery St Mary and West Hill (4)

• Cranbrook, Broadclyst and Stoke Canon (14)

The number of people in hospital in the South West has risen to 77, up from 48 as of last week, but there are currently only four people on a mechanical ventilator, and there have only been three deaths in hospital in the South West in the past 28 days, while NHS 111 data for both Devon and Cornwall has fallen significantly in the past seven days.

In total, East Devon has had 397 positive cases.

Torridge has had 94, West Devon 110, with 179 in the South Hams, 206 in North Devon, 281 in Mid Devon, 479 in Teignbridge, 462 in Torbay, 1063 in Exeter, 1092 in Plymouth and 1634 in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly.

But despite the rise in cases, Devon health officials are not expecting to the county to be placed into a local lockdown.

Cllr John Hart, leader of Devon County Council, said: "As the situation currently stands, most of the cases in Exeter are in the student population and not in the wider community and so, at the moment, Exeter is not in line for a broad lockdown across the city."