Covid-19: Cases begin to fall in Devon and Cornwall

The number of new coronavirus cases confirmed across Devon and Cornwall nearly halved last week - with cases falling everywhere.

The latest statistics released on Friday (November 27), showed a total of 1,266 new cases has been confirmed across the two counties.

The newest figure is the lowest since the week ending October 16.

This is the break down for local areas from the latest MSOA cluster maps, that cover the period of specimen dates between November 16 and November 22.

- Exmouth Brixington: 14

- Exmouth Withycombe Raleigh: 15

- Exmouth Halsdon: 14

- Exmouth Town: 8

- Exmouth Littleham: 8

- Budleigh Salterton: 6

- Sidmouth Sidford: 13

- Sidmouth Town: 3

- Sidbury, Offwell and Beer: 5

- Ottery St Mary and West Hill: 17

- Newton Poppleford, Otterton and Woodbury: 5

- Honiton South and West: 9

- Honiton North and East: 6

- Cranbrook, Broadclyst and Stoke Canon: 12

- Clyst, Exton and Lympstone: 10

- Feniton and Whimple: 5

- Seaton: 4

- Dunkesewell, Upottery and Stockland: 3

- Kilmington, Colyton and Uplyme: 4

- Axminster: 4

In all 11 regions of Devon and Cornwall, cases have fallen, with Cornwall, Plymouth, the South Hams and Torbay seeing a more than 50 per cent drop.

This is the breakdown of the 1,266 new cases confirmed since November 20, compared with 2,367 cases the week before hand.

- 180 were in East Devon ( compare to 244 the week before)

- 43 in West Devon (53)

- 59 in Mid Devon (79)

- 104 in North Devon (170)

- 141 in Exeter (220)

- 231 in Plymouth (597)

- 33 in South Hams (89)

- 73 in Teignbridge (108)

- 119 in Torbay (263)

- 51 in Torridge (66)

- 232 were in Cornwall (478)

Of the 1,266 new cases, 970 had a specimen date between November 20 and 26.

By specimen date, only Torridge isn't seeing a fall in cases, although it's total number of cases are one of the lowest in the region. East Devon and Teignbridge has also seen a 'one day spike' in their rolling averages, although they are now falling again as well.

The number of people in hospital in the South West has fallen, now at 938 from 942 compared to the week before - although there are currently 67 patients in mechanical ventilation beds, up from 65.

The number of patients in hospital across Devon and Cornwall following a positive Covid-19 test has risen – but only just.

NHS England figures show that as last Tuesday (November 24), there were 272

patients across Devon and Cornwall, in hospital after a positive Covid-19 test. This compares to 265 as of November 17.

But while the number of patients in the Royal Devon and Exeter, North Devon and Cornish hospitals has increased, Torbay Hospital has seen a decrease for the second week running, while Derriford Hospital has seen its number drop by more than 40 per cent.

The figures show there were:

- 128 patients in the Royal Devon and Exeter (up from 106)

- 53 in Derriford Hospital in Plymouth (down from 90)

- 35 in Torbay Hospital (down from 39)

- 29 in North Devon District Hospital (up from 18)

- Nine at the Royal Cornwall Hospital (up from six)

- Six in Cornish Partnership Trust hospitals (up from 4)

- 11 at Livewell SouthWest facilities in Plymouth (up from 2)

- One at Devon Partnership Trust facilities (up from 0)

There were 16 patients in Mechanical Ventilation beds, down from 19, with:

- One patient in Torbay Hospital

- Five at the RD&E and North Devon District Hospital

- 10 at Derriford Hospital

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.

Last week, there were 21 deaths within hospitals in Devon and Cornwall within 28 days of a positive Covid-19 death, with nine in Exeter, two in Torbay, six in Plymouth, three in North Devon, and one in Cornwall.

And while NHS 111 data for Cornwall is slightly up, Devon is down 25 per cent and at the lowest level since August 22, and the R-Rate for the South West fallen to 0.9-1.1 from 1.0-1.3.

It comes as Steve Brown, Devon's Director of Public Health Devon (Designate) said this week that going into Tier 2 will give the best chance for Devon to see cases continue to fall.

"When we were in Tier 1, prior to the current national restrictions, we saw continued rising cases," he said.

"It's only been recently, as a result of the national lockdown, that we have seen those cases plateau and ultimately start to fall.

"Devon going into Tier 2 is the best chance for us to continue to see those cases fall."

 

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.