Coronavirus crisis: East Devon rated in comparison to other regions

There have been 23 coronavirus cases confirmed in the past week across Devon and Cornwall, official Government figures show.

The figures show that an average of just over three new cases a day are being confirmed across the region.

East Devon has seen two new cases, the last on July 6.

Across the whole of the South West, there have been 74 cases confirmed in the last seven days, down from 96 in the seven days prior to that, with all 29 of the districts in the region, which stretches from Cornwall to Dorset and Gloucestershire, reporting an average of less than two new cases a day.

And across the South West, the number of people in hospital with Covid-19 has dropped by a third in the previous week, going from 48 on July 3 down to 33 on July 10.

Torridge remains the district in England with the lowest positive case infection rate of anywhere, with East Devon 8th.

The South Hams is 3rd, North Devon 4th, West Devon 5th, Teignbridge 10th, Cornwall 11th, Exeter 15th, Torbay 21st, Plymouth 39th, and Mid Devon 41st out of the 315 English council districts.

Torridge has also had the fewest number of cases of any of the districts, with West Devon 2nd, and the South Hams and North Devon also in the bottom five.

In total, Torridge has had just 50 positive cases, with 71 in West Devon, 98 in the South Hams, 119 in North Devon, 206 in Mid Devon and Teignbridge, 211 in East Devon, 234 in Exeter, 273 in Torbay, 660 in Plymouth and 894 in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly.

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.