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200803 | Number of confirmed Covid-19 cases rises in Cornwall

Number of confirmed Covid-19 cases rises in Cornwall

Number of confirmed Covid-19 cases rises in Cornwall

Published by Sarah Yeoman at 6:57am 3rd August 2020.

Written by Daniel Clark, Local Democracy Reporter

The number of coronavirus cases confirmed in the last week has risen in Cornwall – but fallen across Devon.

The figures show that 41 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 31 new cases confirmed last week.

It means an average of 5.88 cases a day across the two counties are being confirmed, compared to 4.57 last week.

But while the number of confirmed cases in Cornwall have nearly doubled in the last week, going from 10 to 19, and there has been a small rise from 3 to 5 in Torbay, numbers in Plymouth have remained the same, while across the rest of Devon, cases dropped from 15 to 12.

Torbay and Plymouth are seeing an average of 0.7 cases a day confirmed, with 1.7 cases a day in the Devon County Council area, and 2.7 cases a day in Cornwall.

Of the 41 new cases, 25 of them across the region have occurred by specimen date in the last seven days since July 24, with the remaining 16 having occurred in the previous seven day period.

In Cornwall, 13 cases by specimen date have occurred since July 24, with three in Plymouth, two in Torbay, and seven in Devon.

Across the Devon County Council area, of the 12 cases, three were confirmed in East Devon, four in Exeter, three in North Devon, one in Torridge, and one in Teignbridge, with no cases in Mid Devon, West Devon or the South Hams.

Last week saw four in East Devon, five in Exeter, three in Mid Devon and four in Teignbridge. The South Hams saw one new case confirmed, but two historical duplicate cases have been removed, while North Devon, Torridge and West Devon saw no new cases confirmed.

By specimen date, the most recent case confirmed in Cornwall and Plymouth was on July 29, Torridge from July 28 (its first case for 19 days), East Devon, North Devon and Exeter on July 27, Torbay on July 26, Teignbridge on July 25, Mid Devon on July 21, the South Hams on July 19, and West Devon on June 26.

coronavirus covid-19 test

“While the Southwest R value is an important estimate of ongoing transmission, it covers a huge geographical area from the Isles of Scilly to Bristol and taken on its own does not show the rate of growth of coronavirus infections or accurately reflect what is happening in Devon. Devon cases remain very low with seven new cases recorded in the last week.

“While there have been hotspots in other parts of the region COVID-19 cases in Devon remain very low, Devon’s district council areas account for four of the lowest five ‘lower tier local authorities’ in England for confirmed coronavirus cases, making Devon one of the lowest ranking areas of the country for coronavirus cases.

“And Devon’s infection rate is the second lowest of more than 150 ‘upper tier’ councils in England. “This is in part thanks to our residents following national guidance on staying home, social distancing, handwashing and wearing facemasks. We need to keep that up.”

Dr Virginia Pearson, Director of Public Health for Devon

Across the whole of the South West, 174 new cases have been confirmed in the previous week, although 70 of the cases are in Swindon, with at least 51 of the cases linked to a logistics depot.

Of the 29 of the districts in the region, which stretches from Cornwall to Dorset and Gloucestershire, and over a ten day period, only Swindon, Bristol and Wiltshire are reporting an average of more than two new cases a day.

In terms of cases by specimen between July 20-26 and reported by July 29, only St Thomas West (Cowick) of Middle Super Output Areas across Devon and Cornwall had three cases confirmed, with every other areas reporting between 0-2 cases.

Across the South West, the number of people in hospital with COVID-19 has for the first time since the week of May risen, although it is just a rise of one, with 20 people in hospital today compared to 19 on July 24, and there were 48 at the start of the month.

There is currently no-one on a mechanical ventilator in hospitals in the South West, and it is 13 days since any death in a hospital occurred, with the last death in a hospital in Devon and Cornwall having occurred on June 29.

coronavirus test covid-19

Torridge, despite its first case for 19 days, remains the district in England with the lowest positive case infection rate of anywhere in England per 100,000 population, with the South Hams now 2nd, North Devon 4th, West Devon 5th, East Devon 8th, Teignbridge 9th, Cornwall 10th, Exeter 15th, Torbay 21st, Plymouth 37th, and Mid Devon 39th 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 54 positive cases, with 72 in West Devon, 98 in the South Hams, 122 in North Devon, 210 in Mid Devon, 214 in Teignbridge, 222 in East Devon, 248 in Exeter, 282 in Torbay, 673 in Plymouth and 923 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.

The data is now shown by the date the specimen was taken from the person being tested and while it gives a useful analysis of the progression of cases over time, it does mean that the latest days’ figures may be incomplete.

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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