Covid deaths fall below 100 in weekly update

A total of 13,157 coronavirus deaths have now been registered in Scotland since the start of the pandemic.

Another 79 Covid deaths were registered in Scotland last week (Brian Lawless/PA) (PA Archive)

Weekly confirmed or suspected coronavirus deaths in Scotland have fallen by 39 to 79, according to the latest figures.

It means that as of Sunday, 13,157 deaths have been registered in Scotland since the start of the pandemic where Covid-19 was mentioned on the death certificate, data from the National Records of Scotland (NRS) shows.

Of the 79 deaths registered in the week ending February 13, 59 were people aged 75 or older, 15 were 65 to 74, and five were under 65.

A total of 52 of the deaths took place in hospital, 23 were in care homes and four were at home or a non-institutional setting.

Pete Whitehouse, director of statistical services, said: “The number of deaths from all causes registered in Scotland in this week was 1,226, which is 41, or 3%, fewer than the five-year average.”

Of those who died with confirmed or suspected Covid in the latest week, 38 were female and 41 were male.

Twenty-seven council areas had at least one death involving Covid last week, with 13 fatalities in Glasgow, eight in Edinburgh and six in Fife.

The statistics are published weekly and cover all deaths registered in Scotland where Covid-19 was mentioned on the death certificate.

They differ from the lab-confirmed coronavirus deaths announced daily by the Scottish Government because the NRS figures include suspected or probable cases of Covid.

NRS monthly data shows the age-standardised rate of Covid-related deaths was higher in January this year (115 per 100,000) compared to December 2021 (66 per 100,000).

Throughout the pandemic, the highest rate of Covid deaths was 585 per 100,000 people in April 2020.

(PA Graphics) (PA Graphics)

Of the 13,061 Covid-related deaths between March 2020 and January 2022, 93% (12,115) had at least one pre-existing condition, with the most common being dementia or Alzheimer’s disease, figures showed.

According to the latest Scottish Government daily Covid figures, a further 7,449 cases of the virus and 16 new deaths linked to the disease have been recorded in the past 24 hours.

The latest daily figures mean since the pandemic started, 1,312,019 people have been confirmed as having Covid-19.

Intensive care units on Tuesday had 13 patients with recently confirmed Covid-19, the same number as Monday’s figures.

Overall there were 912 people in hospital on Tuesday with recently confirmed Covid-19, up one on the day before.

So far, 4,429,337 people have received their first dose of a Covid-19 vaccination, 4,145,785 have received their second dose, and 3,366,018 have received a third dose or booster.