Half of the people who were in hospital in Devon and Cornwall having tested positive for COVID-19 were admitted for other reasons, latest figures show.

The monthly NHS trust situation report, which was released on Thursday night, and covers up until October 1, showed six patients were in hospital across the two counties.

But only three of the admissions were because of COVID-19, with three of them being diagnosed once they were in the hospital – either because they were infected within the hospital, or because they were admitted for a different reason unrelated to COVID-19, but unknowingly also had coronavirus when they were tested.

For the data for September 30 across the South West – there were two new admissions made to hospital due to COVID-19, but seven diagnoses of inpatients of COVID-19.

The October 1 figures by NHS Trust showed at that time there was one person in Torbay Hospital, one person in the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital, one in the Cornwall Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, and three people in Derriford Hospital in Plymouth. One of those three people in Derriford subsequently died on October 2.

Of those six, one patient in Derriford, Torbay and Exeter were all diagnosed with COVID-19 once inside the hospital.

The dataset also showed that of Devon and Cornwall’s six NHS Trusts, all bar one of them on October 1 had seen the number of people in hospital decrease from highs they had earlier that month.

Torbay had three patients in hospital on September 25, compared to one on October 1. North Devon Hospital had one patients on September 24, compared to zero on October 1. Exeter had five patients in hospital on September 27, compared to one on October 1. Derriford had six patients in hospital on September 22, compared to three on October 1.

Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust hospitals had one patient on September 20, compared to zero on October 1, and the Cornwall Partnership NHS Foundation Trust hospitals had one patients on October 1, which was the highest figure it had seen in the previous month.

As of October 1, there were 36 people in hospital in the South West. By October 8, that figure has risen to 66, and while hospitalisations across the two counties are likely to have risen since, the NHS England dataset only covers the period up until October 1, and won’t be updated to detail October’s figures until November 12.

By date of death, the last confirmed fatality following a positive COVID-19 test at Derriford Hospital was October 2, September 20 within the Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust, June 20 at the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital, June 1 at Torbay Hospital, May 26 at North Devon District Hospital and May 14 in the the Cornwall Partnership NHS Foundation Trust.