THE number of weekly number of coronavirus cases confirmed across Devon and Cornwall has fallen again this week – despite several care home outbreaks and a huge increase in testing as schools returned.

A total of 379 new cases were confirmed across the two counties in the last week – the lowest since the week ending September 25 – with the total since the start of the pandemic at 46,343

Cornwall has the second lowest infection rates of any upper tier authority in England, with Devon ninth, and at a lower tier level, the four of the five lowest infection rates are in Devon, with South Hams the lowest.

Government statistics show that 379 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 380 new cases confirmed last week.

Of the 379 new cases confirmed since March 5, 87 were in Cornwall, 85 in East Devon, 33 in Exeter, 15 in Mid Devon, 8 in North Devon, 75 in Plymouth, four in South Hams, 33 in Teignbridge, four in Torridge and three in West Devon.

This compares to the 380 new cases confirmed between February 26 and March 4 of which 78 were in Cornwall, with 67 in East Devon, 29 in Exeter, 23 in Mid Devon, 14 in North Devon, 86 in Plymouth, six in South Hams, 24 in Teignbridge, 41 in Torbay, six in Torridge and six in West Devon

A total of 306 of the cases in the past week have a specimen date between March 5 and 11, with 72 in Cornwall, 70 in East Devon, 22 in Exeter, 13 in Mid Devon, 8 in North Devon, 59 in Plymouth, three in South Hams, 27 in Teignbridge, 27 in Torbay, two in Torridge and three in West Devon.

For specimens from between March 1 and 7, the South Hams is the area in England with the lowest infection rate (5.7/100,000), with West Devon 2nd(7.2/100,000), Torridge 4th (8.8/100,000), North Devon 5th (9.3/100,000), and Cornwall 8th (11.9/100,000) in the bottom ten. Teignbridge (20.1/100,000), Exeter (22.8/100,000), Mid Devon (24.3/100,000), Plymouth (33.2/100,000), Torbay (37.4/100,000) and East Devon (72.5/100,000) the other rates. The East Devon rate is predominately down to two care home outbreaks.

The latest positivity rates for PCR tests carried out at 0.5% in Cornwall 2.6% in East Devon, 1% in Exeter, 0.9% in Mid Devon, 0.3% in North Devon, 1.2% in Plymouth, 0.2% in South Hams, 0.8% in Teignbridge, 1% in Torbay, 0.3% in Torridge and 0.1% in West Devon.

The number of lateral flows tests carried out across the region in the last week has more than doubled.