South Hams has seen 60 new cases of COVID-19 in the last week, official statistics show.

The number of new coronavirus cases confirmed in the last seven days has risen across Devon and Cornwall – except in Exeter.

The total confirmed number of cases has hit 10,000 across the two counties, with Plymouth’s figures rising over the 2,000 mark today. Plymouth hit 1,000 on October 5.

Government statistics show that 1,662 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 1,395 new cases confirmed last week.

Cases have risen everywhere except for Exeter, which has seen a drop for the second successive week, while the rises in East Devon, Mid Devon, North Devon and West Devon were in single figures

The largest rises occurred in Plymouth and Cornwall, while Torbay also saw cases rise significantly.

Of the 1,662 new cases, 311 were in Cornwall, 124 in East Devon, 196 in Exeter, 52 in Mid Devon, 64 in North Devon, 426 in Plymouth, 76 in the South Hams, 117 in Teignbridge, 213 in Torbay, 35 in Torridge and 38 in West Devon.

This compares to the 1,395 new cases confirmed last week, of which 188 were in Cornwall, 116 in East Devon, 252 in Exeter, 47 in Mid Devon, 55 in North Devon, 369 in Plymouth, 54 in the South Hams, 89 in Teignbridge, 182 in Torbay, 18 in Torridge and 35 in West Devon.

Of the 1,662 new cases, 1,108 have a specimen day between October 23 and 29 – compared to the 894 of the 1,395 of last week’s cases that had specimen date of between October 16 and 22.

Of the 1,108 of the cases had a specimen date of between October 23 and October 29, 184 of the Cornwall cases occurred in that period, with 88 in East Devon, 116 in Exeter, 36 in Mid Devon, 56 in North Devon, 298 in Plymouth, 60 in the South Hams, 69 in Teignbridge, 152 in Torbay, 26 in Torridge and 23 in West Devon.

Maps by specimen date show cases are trending down in Exeter, while East Devon, and Mid Devon fairly flat but falling in the most recent data.

North Devon and Plymouth also show a slight fall in the latest day for the seven day average, but the trend is for cases to be rising, as is the cases in Cornwall, Torbay, and the rest of Devon.

The number of people in hospital in the South West has risen to 386 from 248 from as of last week and there are currently 34 people on a mechanical ventilator.

The number of people in hospital across Devon and Cornwall following a positive COVID-19 test has risen by 20 per cent in the last week.

The NHS England figures, released this morning, give the latest details of the admissions and diagnoses of coronavirus patients by hospital trust.

It shows that as of Tuesday, October 27, the most recent date the information is available for, there were 99 people in Devon’s hospital and four in Cornwall.

The Devon figure has risen from 73 as of Tuesday, October 20, but there has been no change to the total in Cornwall.

Of the 103 patients, there were 33 in Torbay Hospital (up from 30), 32 in Derriford Hospital in Plymouth (22), 23 at the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital (14), 11 in the North Devon District Hospital (7), four at the Royal Cornwall Hospital (3), but no-one in Cornish Partnership Trust hospitals (down from 1).

As of October 27, there were nine patients in Mechanical Ventilation beds – two in Torbay, Derriford and Exeter, and three in the Royal Cornwall hospital – up from six as of October 20.

In the last seven days, ten people have died in hospitals in Devon following a positive COVID-19 test, with one in North Devon and Exeter, two Plymouth, and six in Torbay.

But NHS 111 data for Devon has fallen by around 40 per cent in the last seven days, and in Cornwall, is down by a third, both today to their lowest level since August 22, while The R Rate for the South West has fallen from 1.3-1.6 to 1.2-1.5

In total, Torridge has had 170 positive cases, West Devon 210, with 350 in the South Hams, 365 in North Devon, 419 in Mid Devon, 624 in Teignbridge, 706 in East Devon, 955 in Torbay, 1890 in Exeter, 2063 in Plymouth, and 2303 in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly.

It comes as warnings have been issued that both Plymouth and Torbay could be heading towards Tier 2 if the current rate of infections continue to rise.

The COVID-19 cases are identified by taking specimens from people and sending these specimens to laboratories around the UK to be tested. If the test is positive, this is a referred to as a lab-confirmed case.

Confirmed positive cases are matched to ONS geographical area codes using the home postcode of the person tested.

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.