There has been a small rise in the number of coronavirus cases confirmed in the past week across Devon and Cornwall, with the South Hams recording one case this week.

The figures show that 29 new cases have been confirmed across the region in the past seven days in tests carried out by the NHS and commercial partners, compared to 23 new cases confirmed last week.

It means the average number of cases being confirmed across the two counties each day has risen to 4.14 from 3.28, although not all of the newly confirmed cases related to recent infections.

Of the 29 new cases, 17 of them had the specimen recorded in the previous seven days (between July 10 and July 16), with 12 being ‘historical’ cases, including one from early April.

In Devon, 19 cases have been confirmed in the last week, with four in East Devon (last from July 14), five in Exeter (last from July 12), one in the South Hams (July 13), three in Teignbridge (last from July 13), three in Torridge (all from July 9), and one in West Devon (from April 13) by date of specimen. No new cases in Mid Devon or North Devon were added in the last week.

Across the whole of the South West, there have been, 54 cases have been confirmed in the last seven days, down from 74 that had been confirmed for the previous seven-day period last week, and 101 in total with backdating of cases, and with all 29 of the districts in the region, which stretches from Cornwall to Dorset and Gloucestershire, reporting an average of less than two new cases a day.

Across the South West, the number of people in hospital with COVID-19 has dropped by a quarter in the previous week and has halved in a fortnight, going from 48 on July 3, down to 33 on July 10, and 24 as of July 17. No-one was admitted to hospital having tested positive for coronavirus yesterday in the South West and no-one is currently on a mechanical ventilator.

The South Hams is third in the list of the 315 English council districts when ranked by lowest positive case infection rate per 100,000 population, and is in the bottom five for confirmed cases.

In total, the South Hams has seen just 99 cases.

The data is now shown by the date the specimen was taken from the person being tested and while it gives a useful analysis of the progression of cases over time, it does mean that the latest days’ figures may be incomplete.

Cases received from laboratories by 12:30am are included in the counts published that day. While there may have been new cases of coronavirus confirmed or people having tested positive, those test results either yet to reach PHE for adding to the dataset or were not received in time for the latest daily figures to be published.