We end the first week under Lockdown 3 and there's not a lot of good news, if any, to report in the weekly roundup of coronavirus across Devon and Cornwall - and things will probably get worse before they better and the effect of lockdown starts to impact the figures

A total of 5,120 new cases new cases were confirmed across the two counties – the highest weekly total so far (although comparisons with the Spring cannot be made due to lack of testing) – as the total for the two counties rises over 30,000.

Cases have risen in every single region of Devon and Cornwall – but despite the rises, Devon at upper tier level has the 3rd lowest infection rate, while at lower tier level, all ten areas of Devon are in the bottom 15 of the 315 nationwide.

Government statistics show that 5,120 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 3,287 new cases confirmed last week.

Of the 5,120 cases confirmed since January 1, 2,212 are in Cornwall, with 379 in East Devon, 405 in Exeter, 255 in Mid Devon, 147 in North Devon, 710 in Plymouth, 202 in the South Hams, 312 in Teignbridge, 310 in Torbay, 100 in Torridge and 88 in West Devon.

This compares to the 3,287 cases confirmed between Dec 26 and Jan 1, with 1371 in Cornwall, with 213 in East Devon, 252 in Exeter, 155 in Mid Devon, 122 in North Devon, 657 in Plymouth, 120 in the South Hams, 170 in Teignbridge, 112 in Torbay, 60 in Torridge and 55 in West Devon

Of the 3,243 cases with a specimen date between January 1 and 7, there were 1,043 in Cornwall, 291 in East Devon, 301 in Exeter, 180 in Mid Devon, 94 in North Devon, 570 in Plymouth, 169 in South Hams, 239 in Teignbridge, 236 in Torbay, 63 in Torridge and 59 in West Devon.

Specimen date charts for East Devon, Exeter, Mid Devon and North Devon

And for South Hams, Teignbridge, Torridge and West Devon

And for Cornwall, Torbay, Plymouth and Devon County Council area

The latest positivity rates for tests carried out are at 9.3% in Cornwall, 5.8% in East Devon, 8.9% in Exeter, 8.6% in Mid Devon, 4.5% in North Devon, 6.3% in Plymouth, 7.3% in the South Hams, 5.6% in Teignbridge, 4.1% in Torbay, 3.6% in Torridge and 4.7% in West Devon.

Rates have risen everywhere but North Devon, West Devon and Plymouth, while only North Devon and West Devon are not seeing rises by specimen date at the moment

As of Tuesday morning, there were 264 patients in hospital across Devon and Cornwall following a positive Covid-19 test, with 96 patients at the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital (up from 82 as of Dec 30), 26 at the Nightingale (up from 21), 20 at Torbay Hospital (up from 13),

47 in Derriford Hospital in Plymouth (up from 34), 18 at North Devon District Hospital (down from 29), and 57 in Cornwall (up from 40), although not all patients are local given some have been transferred to the region from elsewhere.

There were 14 patients in Mechanical Ventilation beds, with six at Derriford Hospital, one at Torbay, two at the RD&E, two in North Devon, and three in Cornwall.

In the last week, there have been 31 deaths within hospitals in Devon and Cornwall within 28 days of a positive Covid-19 death, with 15 in Exeter, six in North Devon, five in Plymouth, four in Cornwall and one in Torbay.

In terms of infection rates per age range, everywhere except Exeter, Mid Devon and the South Hams have highest infection rates in the 20-39 age range, but in those three areas, it is in the over 80s.

Age range infection rates for East Devon, Exeter, Mid Devon and North Devon

And for South Hams, Teignbridge, Torridge and West Devon

And Cornwall, Plymouth, Torbay and Devon County Council area

In terms of the latest MSOA cluster maps, that cover the period of specimen dates between December 28 and January 3, there are only 5 areas of Devon and Cornwall with between 0-2 cases – they are Looe & Polperro, Poppleford, Otterton & Woodbury, Shebbear, Cookworthy & Broadheath,

Bere Alston, Buckland Monachorum & Yelverton, and the Isles of Scilly. The MSOA areas in each region with the highest number of cases are Newquay West and Newquay East (68), Cranbrook, Broadclyst & Stoke Canon (36), St Thomas West (46), Cullompton (53), Roundswell & Landkey (20),

Millbay & Stonehouse (37), South Brent & Cornwood (37), Starcross & Exminster (26), Chelston, Cockington & Livermead (24), Bideford South & East (19), and Tavistock (20). Full details for all areas will be in the story published a few tweets down

The figures cover the period when infections caught over the Xmas period would appear in the cases statistics - although correlation and causation are not the same thing so we cannot say for sure that is what caused the rise - and anyone mixing at Xmas knew the risks of doing so

Usual caveats about only confirmed cases etc. Would potentially expect similar-ish figures next week as the impact of Lockdown 3 won't translate into cases etc until the end of next week really due to the lag

Weekly Covid cases for Devon and Cornwall tops 5,000 as infections rising everywhere https://www.devonlive.com/news/devon-news/weekly-covid-cases-devon-cornwall-4870670