THE weekly number of deaths relating to coronavirus in Devon and Cornwall has fallen to single figures for the first time since mid-October.

The figures from the Office of National Statistics (ONS) which relate to the week of March 13 to March 19, but registered up to March 27, show that nine of the 307 deaths registered in the two counties had Covid-19 mentioned on the death certificate.

It is the lowest total since the week ending October 16 when six deaths were registered.

And across the South West, the total number of deaths from all causes is 9.4 per cent below the five year average for deaths.

Of the nine deaths registered in week 11 (March 13-19), there were four deaths of people from Cornwall (one in a care home, three in hospital), two in East Devon (both in care homes – believed to be at Holmesley in Sidford), one in Plymouth (in a hospital), one in Exeter (in a hospital) and one in Torridge (at home).

No deaths have yet been registered in the Isles of Scilly, and no deaths in Mid Devon, Torbay and Teignbridge (for the 3rd week running), the South Hams (for the 4th week running), West Devon (for the 5th week running) and North Devon (for the 6th week running) were registered.

Five of the deaths occurred in hospitals, with three in care homes, and one at home.

A further one death from week 9 – at home in Torbay – was also added into the dataset this week.

Previous weeks have seen 12, 22, 43, 47, 84, 99, 146, 152, 78, 55, 32, 46, 48, 52, 43, 43, 37, 24, 11, 13, 15, 6, 5, 2, 0, 3, 1, 2, 0, 1, 2, 1, 0, 1, 1, 2, 2, 5, 1, 7, 10, 11, 15, 38, 44, 70, 85, 107, 90, 60, 16 and nine deaths registered.

In total, 1,713 deaths from coronavirus have been registered across Devon and Cornwall, with 942 in hospitals, 650 in care homes, 110 at home, four in a hospice, three in a communal establishment and four ‘elsewhere’.

Of the deaths, 567 have been registered in Cornwall, 231 in Plymouth, 202 in East Devon, 166 in Torbay, 127 in Teignbridge, 127 in Exeter, 81 in Mid Devon, 70 in North Devon, 55 in Torridge, 50 in the South Hams, 37 in West Devon, and none on the Isles of Scilly.

So far in 2021, there have been 305 deaths in Cornwall, 92 in Plymouth, 78 in East Devon, 67 in Teignbridge, 57 in Torbay, 54 in Exeter, 33 in Mid Devon, 26 in South Hams, 14 in North Devon, 14 in Torridge and 9 in West Devon.