Weekly coronavirus deaths reach highest level since February

The number of weekly Covid-19 deaths in Scotland has hit the highest level since February.

According to figures from the National Records of Scotland (NRS), there were 165 deaths which mentioned Covid-19 on the death certificate between September 20-26.

This is up 30 on the previous week and is the fifth weekly increase in a row.

Of the latest deaths, 28 were people aged under 65, 28 were aged 65-74 and 109 were 75 or older.

Glasgow City was the council area with the highest number of deaths at 23, followed by South Lanarkshire at 14 and Renfrewshire at 11.

A total of 124 deaths took place in hospitals, 21 were in care homes and 20 were at home or in a non-institutional setting.

Pete Whitehouse, director of statistical services at the NRS, said: “The latest figures show that last week there were 165 deaths where Covid-19 was mentioned on the death certificate.

“This is 30 more deaths than last week, and represents the highest weekly total we have seen since late February.

“The number of deaths from all causes registered in Scotland in this week was 1212, which is 205, or 20%, more than the five-year average.”

On Tuesday, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said coronavirus cases remain at a high level but are continually falling.

“It is extremely positive that case numbers have fallen significantly,” she said. “But they remain more than two-and-a-half times higher than early August.

“And so as we move further into autumn and winter – and people meet indoors for longer periods of time – there remains a risk that cases could rise again.”

Later on Wednesday it was confirmed that a further 28 Covid-19 deaths and 2997 cases were reported overnight.

It means the death toll under this daily measure – of people who first tested positive for the virus within the previous 28 days – stands at 8579.

The daily test positivity rate is 7.6%, down from 10.6% the previous day.

A total of 1020 people were in hospital with recently confirmed Covid-19, down seven in 24 hours, with 71 patients in intensive care, down two.

So far, 4,186,743 people have received the first dose of a Covid-19 vaccination and 3,835,013 have received their second dose.