Coronavirus: Deaths in Scotland from confirmed or suspected Covid-19 reach 2,795

A total of 2,795 deaths have been registered in Scotland where Covid-19 has been mentioned on the death certificate, weekly National Records of Scotland (NRS) figures show.

The data, released today, reveals that there were 523 deaths related to coronavirus in week 18, from April 27 to May 3.

It marks the first weekly reduction in the number of deaths from the virus, a decrease of 135 on last week.

Of those deaths, 310 (59%) were linked to care homes. The total number is down from 339 last week, while the proportion in that setting is up from 47%.

The NRS statistics also show that three quarters of registered deaths involving Covid-19 to date were people aged 75 or over.

Of all coronavirus deaths so far, 52% were male and 48% were female.

What today’s data also revealed

There were 594 more deaths in week 18 compared to the 5-year average, the majority of which had an underlying cause of Covid-19 (83%)
31% of all deaths in Scotland in week 18 involved Covid-19
43% of Covid-19 deaths registered to date relate to care homes, 49% to hospitals and 8% to home or non-institutional settings
In week 18, the Health Board area with the highest number of
deaths involving Covid-19 was Greater Glasgow and Clyde with 168 deaths
(also the highest number of Covid-19 deaths to date with 910).
Greater Glasgow and Clyde also had the highest rate in Scotland, with 7.7 deaths per 10,000 population
At local authority level, Inverclyde had a rate of 12.67 deaths per 10,000 people, 2.5 times the average.

Why this data differs from the daily updates

The weekly figures differ to the daily numbers announced by Nicola Sturgeon at her press briefings as they also include deaths where there has not been a positive test for Covid-19, but it is a suspected or presumed factor.

The First Minister’s daily figures only record deaths of patients who have tested positive for coronavirus.

Wednesday’s daily stats are:

1,703 deaths (+83)
12,709 confirmed cases (+272)
1,632 in hospital (-24)
89 in ICU (-15)

What Nicola Sturgeon has said

In her introduction to First Minister’s Questions on Wednesday, the First Minister said: “Today’s report shows that by Sunday, the total number of registered deaths linked to the virus, confirmed and presumed, was 2,795. 523 of those deaths were registered in the seven days up to Sunday. That is a decrease of 135 from the week before.

“In fact, I think it is important to note, this is the first weekly reduction in Covid-19 deaths we’ve seen since the first death related to the virus was registered.

“In the most recent week, 59% of all deaths linked to the virus happened in care homes. While that is a deeply distressing figure, it is nevertheless important to note that the number of deaths in care homes also reduced last week compared to the week before.

“And finally, the total number of deaths, while still significantly higher than the five-year average, also fell, which means what we refer to as excess deaths were lower last week than in the week before.”

What NRS say

Pete Whitehouse, Director of Statistical Services at NRS, 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 (HPS), 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.”