COVID-19: Hospital patient figures increase by 20% across Devon and Cornwall

The number of people in hospital across Devon and Cornwall following a positive COVID-19 test has risen by 20 per cent in the last week.

The NHS England figures, released this morning (Friday), give the latest details of the admissions and diagnoses of coronavirus patients by hospital trust.

It shows that as of Tuesday, October 27 - the most recent date the information is available for - there were 99 people in Devon's hospitals and four in Cornwall.

The Devon figure has risen by 73 as of Tuesday, October 20, but there has been no change to the total in Cornwall.

Of the 103 patients, there were 33 in Torbay Hospital (up from 30), 32 in Derriford Hospital in Plymouth (22), 23 at the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital (14), 11 in the North Devon District Hospital (7), four at the Royal Cornwall Hospital (3), but no-one in Cornish Partnership Trust hospitals (down from 1).

As of October 27, there were nine patients in mechanical ventilation beds – two in Torbay, Derriford and Exeter, and three in the Royal Cornwall hospital – up from six as of October 20.

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 small 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.

In the last seven days, nine people have died in hospitals in Devon following a positive COVID-19 test, with one in North Devon, Exeter and Plymouth, and six in Torbay.

New figures from the government have also been released showing the breakdown of positive COVID-19 cases by age group and local authority area.

The figures, concerning positive cases reported over the week of October 22-27, show that in Devon and Cornwal the 20-29 age group are seeing the highest number of cases, but in Torbay it is the 30-39 age group.

Torbay also has a higher number of new cases being reported in the 70-79 age group than the 10-19 age group, the only area in Devon and Cornwall to do so, and the Bay has the highest rate of cases for the 80-89 and 90+ age groups.

Torbay has the highest percentage of cases in the 60+ age range (17 per cent) and the lowest in the 10-19 age range (just six per cent), with 16 per cent of cases in the 20-29, 40-49 and 50-59 age ranges and 23 per cent in the 30-39 range.

In the Devon County Council area, 14.5 per cent of the cases confirmed are from the 60+ age group, with another 14 per cent in the 50-59 age group, with the 20-29 (28 per cent) and 10-19 (19 per cent) with the highest amount.

In Cornwall, just nine per cent of the cases are in the 60+ age group, with 24 per cent of cases in the 20-29 age range, and 22 per cent in the 10-19 age group.

In Plymouth, just 13 per cent of cases are in the 60+ age group, with 32 per cent of cases in the 20-29 age range, and 13 per cent in the 10-19 age group.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock told BBC Radio 4 that Downing Street would be looking at the rate of new Covid-19 cases, the number of people with the virus in the over 60s age range, hospitalisations, and deaths related to coronavirus, when assessing which tiers to put areas into