Covid-19 alert level reduced

ONE new death after a Covid-19 diagnosis has been recorded in a hospital in Devon and Cornwall in the latest figures from the NHS.

The patient died at the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital. There were no other deaths in hospitals in the region in the most recent statistics.

The news came as the UK’s Covid-19 alert level was lowered from five to four, as the country’s top medics said the threat of the NHS being overwhelmed has receded.

The level five alert was announced on January 4 as lockdown measures were introduced by Boris Johnson amid fears the health service could be swamped. The decision to reduce the alert has now been made because the number of cases are “consistently declining”.