Percentage of over 60s testing positive for Covid doubles in Cornwall
The total number of cases in the Duchy are, however, falling.
Last updated 30th Nov 2020
The proportion of people testing positive for coronavirus who are over the age of 60 has increased across Devon and Cornwall – except in Plymouth.
The latest figures, based on tests reported between November 23 and November 29, show that across the majority of the region, a higher percentage of the positive tests are in the more vulnerable age groups.
At the same time, the percentage of people in their teens who are testing positive have reduced everywhere, other than Plymouth, where the rise was less than one per cent.
Across Devon, Torbay, Plymouth and Cornwall, the number of new cases confirmed compared to the previous seven days has nearly halved, and therefore while percentages in age groups may have increased, the number of positive cases have fallen.
The latest figures show that the age group in Plymouth testing positive most often is the 20-29 age range, with 20.8 per cent of all cases (up from 17.2 per cent last week).
There has been a small increase in the 10-19 age range (14.6 per cent from 13.8 per cent), but less than 10 per cent of cases are in the 60+ age range (down from 19 per cent), and only two of the 211 cases reported where of people over the age of 80.
Cornwall, which has been placed in Tier 1, has seen the proportion of cases in the over 60 range double, going from 10.8 per cent to 24.3 per cent.
But only 7.1 per cent of the cases are in the 10-19 age range (down from 9.9 per cent), and the 30-39 age range is seeing the highest proportion of cases of any range (18.2 per cent).
In the Devon County Council area, there has been a proportion of people 60+ testing positive, now comprising of 31.9 per cent of infections (from 24 per cent), while 15.2 per cent (up from 9 per cent) of the reported cases are in those 80+.
The 50-59 age range reporting the highest percentage of any 10-year band at 14.2 per cent, while cases in 10-19s only comprise 9.7 per cent of the total (down from 10.6 per cent)
Torbay continues to see the highest proportion of newly reported cases in the 10-19 age range, although the percentage has dropped from 21.5 per cent to 19 per cent, and represents just 20 cases confirmed in the previous week.
But more than 30 per cent of the positive cases are in the 60+ age range (up from 19 per cent) and more than 12 per cent of the cases are in the 80+ age range, and just 5.7 per cent of the positive cases are of people in their 20s (down from 6.9 per cent).