A recent rise in coronavirus cases in the East Devon area is localised in the Sidbury, Offwell and Beer area – and primarily in the over 85s.

Infection rates in East Devon rose from a low of 33.5/100,000 – the lowest since the end of September – on Saturday, to 45.8/100,000 on Sunday, when cases with a specimen date of March 2 were added to the dataset.

But the rise is entirely down to what appears to be an outbreak in a care home in the Sidbury, Offwell and Beer area, with the MSOA area reporting 34 cases in the seven day period between February 24 and March 2 – with 29 of them coming from specimen from March 2.

Infection rates in the oldest age groups also rose at the same time – going from 187/100,000 on Saturday to 562/100,000 on Sunday in the over 90s, and from 118/100,000 to 380/100,000 in the 85-89s, with smaller rises also seen in the 80-84s and 75-79s.

As no area other than Sidbury, Offwell and Beer saw a rise in their figures when March 2 specimens were added, the rise in both infection rates and in the age range infection rates have to be linked, with a care home in the area the most likely explanation for the rise.

A spokesman for Public Health Devon said: "There is currently a rise in new cases in the Sidbury, Offwell and Beer area of East Devon, and the majority of them are linked to a single setting.

"We and Public Health England are working closely with that setting to ensure that all reasonable measures are in place and appropriate action is taken to ensure everyone's ongoing safety, and to prevent spread of infections.

"Controls are in place and there is no current evidence of wider community spread."

However, despite the slight spike in cases in East Devon, the district's infection rate is still in the bottom third in England, sitting 207th of the 315 local authority area.

Across the rest of Devon, Exeter has the 279th highest infection rate, Mid Devon 292nd lowest, Torbay 298th, Teignbridge 305th, Torridge 309th, West Devon 313th, North Devon 314th and South Hams 315th and the lowest in England.

At an upper tier level, only the Isle of Wight and Cornwall have a lowest infection rate than Devon, with the 22.4/100,000 the lowest since the end of September.

In the week leading up to March 2 in Devon, only one person aged 65-69 tested positive for Covid-19, while there were 0 positive cases in the 5-9 age group.