THE number of deaths linked to coronavirus in Scotland fell for the first time last week.
Statistics from the National Records of Scotland (NRS) show the infection was linked to 523 deaths between April 27 and May 3 – a decrease of 135 from the week before.
Care homes continue to bear the brunt of the outbreak, with 59 per cent of Covid deaths occuring in them, compared to 52% last week.
But while the percentage rose, the number of deaths in care homes fell from 339 to 310.
On average, there were 44 care home deaths a day last week, the equivalent of two every hour.
The proportion of deaths occurring in hospitals fell from 42% to 37%, while 4% were at home or non-institutional settings compared to 6% the week before.
Coronavirus has been implicated in the deaths of at least 2,795 people up to May 3.
Three quarters of registered deaths involving Covid-19 to date were people aged 75 or over, while 52% were male and 48% were female.
The NRS tally includes cases where suspected Covid-19 was recorded as a factor on the death certificate.
It is considered more accurate than the daily running total produced by Health Protection Scotland (HPS), which only counts laboratory-confirmed cases of Covid-19.
The latest publication comes as Nicola Sturgeon prepares to face questions from MSPs at First Minister's Questions.
Pete Whitehouse, Director of Statistical Services, said: “Every death from this virus is a tragedy.
"These statistics, alongside the other important evidence being made available by the Scottish Government and Health Protection Scotland, are valuable to the understanding of the progress and impact of the Covid-19 virus across Scotland.
"These latest figures show that for the first time, since reporting of registered deaths relating to Covid-19 began for week beginning 16th March, there has been a reduction in Covid-19 related deaths from the previous week – down from 658 to 523 Covid-19 related deaths.
"Our aim is to ensure that our statistical publication provides information that is as useful as possible and adds value to the understanding of how the virus is spreading throughout the country.
"We will continue to review and develop these statistics as new information is made available.”
The total number of deaths registered in Scotland from April 27 to May 3 was 1,673 – 594 (55%) more than the average number of deaths registered in the same week over the last five years, 1,079.
This is a decrease of 163 from the number registered the previous week, April 20 to April 26.
Of these 594 excess deaths, 83% were deaths where Covid-19 was the underlying cause of death.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel