Some hospitals in Cornwall and Devon free of Covid patients for first time in months

Three of Devon's four hospitals are free of Covid-19 patients, latest figures from the NHS reveal - with no patients across Devon and Cornwall on ventilators.

There have been no patients in hospital in North Devon following a positive Covid-19 test for more than three weeks - while it is two weeks since there was anyone in Torbay Hospital.

Derriford Hospital in Plymouth is also free of Covid-19 patients, and has been since April 23rd, which was the first time since September 19th that the hospital has had no patients.

The last time anyone was in North Devon District Hospital after a positive Covid-19 test was on April 4th, while in Torbay, there was one patient in the hospital on April 14th, but they were discharged the following day, and that is the only patient Torbay Hospital has seen since March 31st.

Across Devon, there has been a fall in the number of patients in hospital, down to 11 from 13 as of last week, based on the figures showing the position as of Tuesday morning (April 27), with all 11 at the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital (down from 12 as of last week).

In Cornwall, the Royal Cornwall Hospital Trust units had one patient - the lowest figure since October 2nd - while Cornish Partnership Trust hospitals have not had a patient since April 12th.

And the figures also show that as of Tuesday, there were no patients in any of Devon and Cornwall's hospital in a mechanical ventilation bed - the first time since October 8th.

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.

• coronavirus
• hospitals
• Cornwall
• devon