A total of 9,053 people have died in Scotland with confirmed or suspected coronavirus, according to the National Records of Scotland (NRS).

The figures show 323 deaths relating to Covid-19 were registered between February 8 and 14, down 54 on the previous week.

Of these, the majority happened in hospital at 266, with 42 in care homes and 15 at home or in a non-institutional setting.

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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-19.

Speaking at First Minister's Questions, Nicola Sturgeon updated MSPs on the latest coronavirus statistics.

The latest figures show 1,317 people are in hospital - a decrease of 66 from yesterday - with 99 in intensive care, marking a decrease of one.

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With 64 deaths in the past 24 hours, the death toll under this measure – of people who first tested positive for the virus within the previous 28 days – is now 6,828.

The First Mininster said that the data from the NRS report was "encouraging".

She said the report gave the first "hard evidence" of the positive impact of vaccination.

With the number of deaths having fallen for the last three weeks, Ms Sturgeon noted hospital deaths were down 11% over that period, with deaths in people’s homes and other “non institutional settings” down 29%.

“However deaths in care homes, which were the early focus of the vaccination programme, have fallen by 62%,” the First Minister said.

“In fact, with the exception of one week at the end of August when there were only two Covid deaths registered overall, care homes accounted for a smaller proportion of overall Covid deaths last week than at any time since March of last year.

“I think that is positive news, given the toll the virus has taken on our care homes.”

Nicola Sturgeon went on to say the NRS figures showed the largest reduction of deaths over the last three weeks was in the over-85 age group, with a drop of 45%.

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She added that people aged over 80 living in the community had been the next priority of the vaccination programme, after care home residents.

She said: “It is reasonable to take some heart from this because it strongly suggests the vaccine programme is having the hoped for effect of reducing the death toll from the virus.”

She said by 8.30am on Wednesday a total of 1,320,074 Scots had received their first dose of the coronavirus vaccine – an increase of 32,070 from the previous day.