Coronavirus weekly death rate continues to fall in Scotland

At least 10,078 people have died in Scotland with confirmed or suspected coronavirus, according to official figures.

On Wednesday, National Records of Scotland revealed there were 23 deaths linked to Covid registered between April 19-25, a fall of one from the previous week.

Of the new NRS figures, the majority were in hospital at 18, with three in care homes and two at home or in non-institutional settings.

There were seven deaths in the Greater Glasgow and Clyde health board area, as well as four in Lanarkshire and three in both Lothian and Tayside.

At council level, the highest number of deaths occurred in Edinburgh, North Lanarkshire and West Dunbartonshire, each registering three.

NRS also reported that 39% of the deaths were of people aged 75 and over, with 35% under 65.

Out of the 23 deaths, 70% were male and 30% were female.

Pete Whitehouse, director of statistical services at NRS, said: “The latest figures show another slight reduction in deaths where Covid-19 has been the underlying cause or a contributory factor, but every single death remains a tragedy.

“We know families, friends, and communities across the country are still being affected by the loss of loved ones due to this virus.

“Of these deaths, a majority of 18 occurred in hospitals, with three deaths in care homes, and two deaths occurring at home or in non-institutional settings.

“The 1103 deaths from all causes registered last week remains slightly above the five-year average, an increase of 3% compared to 2015-2019.”

Later on Wednesday, the Scottish Government confirmed that a further single death and 204 new cases of coronavirus were reported in Scotland overnight.

Lab-confirmed coronavirus deaths – announced daily by the Scottish Government – now stands at 7654.

The daily test positivity rate is 0.9%, down from the 1% reported on Tuesday when 133 cases were recorded.

Of the new cases reported on Wednesday, 55 are in the Greater Glasgow and Clyde region, 34 are in Lothian, 26 are in Grampian and 25 are in Lanarkshire.

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

According to NHS boards across Scotland, 75 people are currently in hospital with confirmed or suspected Covid-19. Out of those, 12 patients are in intensive care.

The Scottish Government also confirmed that 2,789,978 Scots have received their first dose of a Covid-19 vaccine, an increase of 7816 from the day before.

A total of 1,142,947 people have received their second dose, a rise of 40,257.