South Hams has seen the number of COVID-19 cases fall slightly this week, official figures show.

The number of coronavirus cases confirmed across Devon and Cornwall has fallen in the previous seven days – but not everywhere.

A total of 3,521 new cases were confirmed across the two counties in the last week as the total for the two counties now stands at 39,061 – the third highest weekly figure.

But the number of cases confirmed have fallen everywhere except in West Devon, where there has been a rise on cases.

Government statistics show that 3,521 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 4,390 new cases confirmed last week.

Of the 3,521 cases confirmed since January 15, 147 are in South Hams, with 1,229 in Cornwall, 221 in East Devon, 258 in Exeter, 127 in Mid Devon, 72 in North Devon, 794 in Plymouth, 245 in Teignbridge, 278 in Torbay, 39 in Torridge and 111 in West Devon

This compares to the 4,390 cases confirmed between January 9 and 15, of which 160 were in the South Hams, with 1,651 in Cornwall, 345 in East Devon, 339 in Exeter, 170 in Mid Devon, 101 in North Devon, 801 in Plymouth, 333 in Teignbridge, 362 in Torbay, 62 in Torridge and 66 in West Devon.

By specimen date, only West Devon and Plymouth are not seeing a fall in cases, with the sharpest drops in Cornwall, East Devon, North Devon and Torridge.

A total of 2,647 of the cases confirmed in the past week have a specimen date between January 15 and 21, with 94 in South Hams.

The latest positivity rates for tests carried out stands at five per cent in South Hams, again a fall since last Friday. 

As of Tuesday morning, there were 426 patients in hospital across Devon and Cornwall following a positive Covid-19 test, up from 350 as of last Tuesday.

There were 95 patients at the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital (down from 99 as of Jan 12), 44 at the Nightingale (up from 34), 34 at Torbay Hospital (up from 25), 110 in Derriford Hospital in Plymouth (up from 72), 7 at North Devon District Hospital (down from 9), and 136 in Cornwall (up from 111), although not all patients are local given some have been transferred to the region from elsewhere.

There were 40 patients in Mechanical Ventilation beds (up from 25), with 14 at Derriford Hospital, three at Torbay, eight at the RD&E, and 15 in Cornwall.

In terms of the latest MSOA cluster maps, that cover the period of specimen dates between January 11 and January 17, there are eight areas of Devon and Cornwall with between 0-2 cases, up from two as of last Friday, though none in South Hams.

The MSOA areas in South Hams with the highest number of cases is now Ivybridge with 29. 

In terms of infection rates per age range, case rates are highest in the over 80s age range, although only marginally ahead of the 20-39s. Infection rates are highest in the 20-39s in Torbay, Cornwall, Mid Devon, South Hams, Torridge and West Devon, with Exeter, East Devon, Teignbridge and Plymouth seeing their highest infection rates in the over 80s. North Devon meanwhile is in the 40-59 age ranges.

It comes as Steve Brown, Director of Public Health Devon, has pleaded with residents to follow the new national lockdown restrictions.

He said: “We are a critical phase. The numbers are stabilising but it shows the importance of people adhering to the national lockdown restrictions.

“While compared to the national figures, we have relatively low numbers, they are high compared to where we were, and while there are reasons to be optimistic, we cannot take our foot of the gas.

“Hope is on the horizon. The vaccine programme is rapidly gathering pace and everyone in our care homes and the rest of the over 80s should have had the chance to have a first dose over the next few weeks.”

Across Devon, NHS figures show that as of January 17, 98,234 vaccinations had occurred, with that figure having risen further in the most recent days.

Just over 85,000 people had been vaccinated, with nearly 12,000 of those having had their second dose. Of those having had one dose, 39,880 of them are over 80s with 46,469 under 80, mainly in health and care professions.

Just over 50 per cent of Devon’s over 80s had, as of Sunday, had their first dose, with more than 13 per cent having had the second dose as well, with the majority of care home residents having been vaccinated. It means 7.2 per cent of Devon’s residents have had their first vaccination.