TEIGNBRIDGE has had 135 confirmed cases of coronavirus and when ranked by number of cases per 100,000 people, the district has a rate of 101.6 per 100,000.

Coronavirus case numbers and rate of infection in some of Devon’s districts are among the very lowest in England.

Previously the Government’s daily dashboard of coronavirus cases had only shown the number of positive cases for a region split by upper tier authority, but today they have begun publishing the data by lower tier authorities in England.

And the data shows that of Devon’s eight district council areas, five of them are in the top 15 in the 316 regions in England for both fewest cases and lowest rate of infection.

Torridge is both the area with the third lowest number of cases and infection rate, with just 33 cases and an infection rate of just 48.4 people per 100,000, meaning that less than 1 in every 2,000 people in the district has tested positive for COVID-19.

Only Rutland – the small historic county in England, and the City of London, an administrative region covering the Square Mile and populated by just 9,000 people – have had fewer cases of coronavirus that Torridge.

The government figures show that West Devon has had just 52 positive coronavirus cases, with the South Hams and North Devon, with 77 and 81, also in the bottom ten for confirmed cases.

Mid Devon has had 85 cases, with 130 in East Devon, 135 in Teignbridge, and 162 in Exeter. Torbay has had 209 cases confirmed, with 317 in Plymouth, with 531 in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly.

Ranked by number of cases per 100,000 people, Torridge again comes out as the area with the third fewest cases, with just 48.4 per 100,000. Only Mendip and Hastings have had fewest cases per 100,000.

North Devon (84.3 per 100,000), the South Hams (89.3 per 100,000) and East Devon (90.1 per 100,000) are also in the bottom ten for the highest case rate, with West Devon (93.6 per 100,000), Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly (93.8 per 100,000) also recording that less than one in every 1,000 people in the area has tested positive for COVID-19.

Teignbridge has a rate of 101.6 per 100,000, Mid Devon 104 per 100,000, Plymouth 120.5 per 100,000, Exeter 124.2 per 100,000, while Torbay has the highest infection rate in the region of 153.9 per 100,000 people, but is only the 89 th highest of the 317 area. Other than Torbay, the other ten regions in Devon and Cornwall are within the bottom 46 areas.

At the other end of the scale, Barrow-in-Furness has the highest infection rate of 804.3 per 100,000 people, meaning that eight in every 1,000 people would have tested for coronavirus.

The latest figures show that in the Devon County Council region there have been 755 positive cases of coronavirus – a number that has only risen by five in the previous two days – with a further 209 in Torbay and 317 in Plymouth.

The total number of coronavirus related deaths in Devon’s hospitals is 159, with ONS figures for overall deaths in 2020 related to coronavirus that occurred up to April 25 and were registered up to May 2 showing that 211 deaths were registered in Devon.