THE number of patients in all of Devon’s hospitals following a positive Covid-19 test has fallen to levels not seen since early October.

As of Tuesday morning (March 9), there were 36 patients across the county in hospital after a positive test, down on the 43 as of the previous Tuesday.

And in Cornwall, the patients in hospital have also fallen, dropping from 23 last week to 18 as of Tuesday.

In total there were 17 patients at the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital (up from 12 as of March 2), six at Torbay Hospital (down from 10), 12 in Derriford Hospital in Plymouth (down from 18), one at North Devon District Hospital (down from two), and none in Devon Partnership NHS Trust units (down from one) although not all patients may not be local given some Devon’s hospital were providing mutual aid to others.

The figure for the Torbay is the lowest since October 11 and Derriford since October 18.

And the number of patients in mechanical ventilation beds across the two counties is down as well to 10, from 16 last week, with four in Exeter, and three in Plymouth and Cornwall.

The figures show the amount of patients in hospital following a positive COVID-19 test who are currently occupying a bed.

But not every patient would necessarily have been admitted to hospital due to COVID-19, with a number of patients either contracting the virus inside the hospital, or being admitted for unrelated reasons but subsequently testing positive asymptotically when given routine tests.