ALONG with a big drop in Covid cases across Teignbridge there is good news that there has been a significant fall in the number of people with Covid in hospitals across the county.

The latest Government figures show that between April 22 and 28, 259 people had a confirmed positive test result. This shows a decrease of -41.1% compared to the previous seven days.

However, during the same period there have been seven deaths in the district within 28 days of a positive coronavirus test.

The number of people with covid in Devon’s hospitals has dropped significantly over the past month.

Numbers peaked at record levels of around 500 at the end of March but have since fallen to just over 200, health chief Dr Paul Johnson revealed this week.

Speaking at a Team Devon meeting of local leaders, the clinical chair of the NHS Devon Clinical Commissioning Group said the ‘vast majority of these patients are coming in with non-covid related conditions, but they are being screened at the front door.’

While hospitals are seeing reduced levels of sickness from covid, with only two virus patients in intensive care, Dr Johnson warned there was ‘currently still clinical concern’ that the virus contributes to the severity of the non-covid conditions most people are admitted for.