Coronavirus deaths fall for ninth consecutive week

The number of deaths linked to coronavirus in Scotland has fallen for the ninth consecutive week, according to official figures.

On Wednesday, National Records of Scotland revealed there were 61 deaths linked to Covid registered between March 22 and 28 – five fewer than the previous week.

Of the new NRS figures, the majority were in hospital at 43, with 13 at home or in non-institutional settings, and five in care homes.

There were 23 deaths in the Greater Glasgow and Clyde health board area, eight in Lanarkshire and eight in Forth Valley.

At council level, the highest number of deaths occurred in Glasgow at 14, followed by five in North Lanarkshire, five in Falkirk, and five in East Ayrshire.

NRS also reported that 52% of the deaths were of people aged 75 and over, with 21% under 65.

Out of the 61 deaths, 48% were male and 52% were female.

Pete Whitehouse, director of statistical services at NRS, said: “It is welcome to report that this is the ninth week in succession where we have seen a fall in the number of Covid-related deaths and it’s the third where there were fewer deaths from all causes, in comparison with the five-year average.”

Later on Wednesday, the Scottish Government confirmed a further six people have died in Scotland after being diagnosed with coronavirus.

The death toll of those who tested positive currently stands at 7602. However, weekly figures on suspected Covid-19 deaths recorded by NRS suggest the most up-to-date total is at least 9958.

Total confirmed cases of the virus has risen to 218,432 – an increase of 542 in the past 24 hours.

The daily test positivity rate is 2.1%, down from the 2.8% reported on Tuesday when 411 cases were recorded.

Of the new cases reported on Wednesday, 136 are in the Greater Glasgow and Clyde region, 98 are in Lanarkshire, and 75 are in Forth Valley.

The rest of the cases are spread out across nine other health board areas.

According to NHS boards across Scotland, 237 people are currently in hospital with confirmed or suspected Covid-19, 13 fewer than Tuesday. Out of those, 21 patients are in intensive care.

It was also confirmed that 2,463,069 Scots have received their first dose of a Covid-19 vaccine, an increase of 26,671 from the day before.

A total of 354,756 people have received their second dose, a rise of 16,313.