Covid cases have increased in all council areas in Devon, with Exeter now having the highest infection rate in the county.

Figures for the week to Thursday [27 January] show the rate in the Devon County Council area went up by a quarter, 15 per cent in Plymouth and by just three per cent in Torbay.

However, those increases were usurped by the rise of almost half in Exeter, with over two-thousand official cases reported in the city in that week.

A flattening of covid rates across the UK as a whole also means nearly all of Devon now has higher infection rates than the national average of 1,033 per 100,000 people. Devon’s is 1,220, while the figures are slightly higher in Torbay (1,422) and Plymouth (1,350).

At a district level, Exeter, North Devon and the South Hams all recorded increases of more than a quarter. Torridge and Teignbridge also saw covid cases go up by around 20 per cent.

Besides Exeter (1,557), Teignbridge now has the highest district rate for the virus at 1,347. West Devon, after recording a modest seven per cent rise in the latest figures, remains the least prevalent area for covid with a rate of 832.

Fuelling much of the rise in cases appears to be young people aged up to 19. The rate per 100,000 in the Devon County Council area has more than doubled – from 1,035 on 13 January, to 2,370 just under a fortnight later.

It follows a warning last month by Devon County Council’s director of public health Steve Brown as cases began to fall. He said there could still be an uptick in cases from students returning to schools and colleges after Christmas.

Rates among 20–29-year-olds and 40-59-year-olds are also on the rise, but they remain low in adults aged 60 and over.

HOSPITALISATIONS

As of the most recent data from Tuesday 25 January, 255 patients are in Devon’s hospitals with covid, a increase in 34 from a week ago. The vast majority – 188 – are being treated in Plymouth.

Elsewhere, 27 patients are at the RD&E in Exeter, 24 in Torbay, 10 in North Devon and six at Devon Partnership mental health trust sites. Of the total number of patients, only two are on ventilation beds, the same number as last week.

DEATHS

Twenty-three more people died in the county within 28 days of testing positive for covid in the latest complete weekly period (up to Wednesday 26 January). Eleven were in the Devon County Council area, three in Torbay and nine in Plymouth.

A total of 1,537 people in Devon (including Plymouth and Torbay) have died within 28 days of a positive test since the pandemic began.

VACCINATIONS

The number of people aged over 12 who have received their booster (third) covid vaccination is 70 per cent in the Devon County Council area, 65 per cent in Torbay and 59 per cent in Plymouth.

Take-up for at least one dose of a vaccine is 88 per cent in the Devon County Council area, 86 per cent in Torbay and 85 per cent in Plymouth.

The proportion of people who have had two jabs is 83 per cent in Devon, 81 per cent in Torbay and 79 per cent in Plymouth.