Cornwall has now been 'cluster free' for not far off a week following a drop in the number of new Covid cases.

Clusters are shown on the government's dashboard map when there are three or more new cases reported at any one time.

Anywhere with between zero and two cases shows white in order to "protect the privacy of individuals and prevent disclosure", the accompanying information states.

In the Packet's midweek update it was revealed that the Cornwall had no Covid clusters showing for the first time since the end of last summer.

And nothing has changed in today's weekend update, with the map still showing completely white.

Falmouth Packet:

Last Saturday there was only one area showing on the map, out of 72 official cluster areas in Cornwall.

This was St Austell Central, which saw a rise of one more case compared to the previous week, bringing it to a total of three.

That too has now dropped off though, leaving the map clear.

The map shows positive cases by 'Middle Super Output Area' - the name the government gives to the break-up of larger towns and groups of neighbouring towns and villages, with groupings covering a greater area than others.

The minimum population in each area is 5,000 and the average is 7,200.

Falmouth Packet:

It is only small fluctuations that cause areas to reappear back on the map currently, with cases remaining low across the Duchy.

Today's update revealed there had been 30 new cases recorded across the seven days leading up to May 17 - the most recent information available.

The last five days are now shown, due to incomplete data.

This is two fewer than were reported across the preceding week, marking a 6.2% drop.

The rolling rate of new cases now averages 5.2 cases per 100,000 people, compared to 7.3 cases per 100,000 people a week ago.

It is not clear, however, whether changes to the way data is being recorded earlier in the weekn has affected the figures.

On Tuesday the government said 4,776 cases had been removed, with a further 561 on Wednesday and that as such data at regional and local authority level on those days did "not reflect the actual number of new cases reported on that date."

More details can be found on today's daily case update: Coronavirus in Cornwall round up: Saturday, May 22 - a rise in deaths