Devon has England's lowest covid rate

But still higher than in most of 2020

Coronavirus infection rates in Devon are now the lowest in England, latest figures have revealed.

The seven-day rolling average from 21 to 27 January shows that the Devon County Council area, which excludes Plymouth and Torbay, now has England’s lowest infection rate at 84.4 per 100,000 people.

The figures also show that at district council evel, the five places in England with the lowest infection rates are all in Devon.

Torridge (43.9/100,000) has England’s lowest infection rate, with North Devon (49.4/100,000) second, Exeter (78.4/100,000) third, South Hams (90.8/100,000) fourth and East Devon (91.6/100,000) with the fifth lowest.

Teignbridge (98.4/100,000) sits seventh lowest, with West Devon (104/100,000) ninth and Mid Devon (113/100,000) is eleventh of the 315 English local authority areas.

But Steve Brown, director of Public Health Devon, said that while covid cases are now falling in Devon, numbers are still much higher than they were for large parts of last year.

He said: “It looks like the current restrictions are having a positive impact and we are starting to see cases come down. While clearly it’s good news cases are coming down, they are still higher than in November and December, so now is not the time to drop our guard, so please stay at home and stick to the rules.”

Devon’s infection rate is the lowest since 15 December 15, with cases for the two-week period prior to that being lower.

Cases rates still remain highest in the over 90s age group, followed by the 30-39 year-olds, with the lowest infection rates in Devon in the 70-79 year-olds and those 0-14.