Covid Scotland: Covid deaths fall in latest weekly figures

Confirmed or suspected coronavirus deaths in Scotland have fallen, according to the latest figures.

National Records of Scotland (NRS) said 36 deaths registered in the week to October 9 mentioned Covid-19 on the death certificate, nine fewer than in the previous week.

Six of the deaths were in South Lanarkshire, and there were four each in the Glasgow and Edinburgh city council areas.

Fifteen of Scotland’s 32 local authority areas had at least one death involving Covid-19 registered last week.

The majority – 26 – of Covid deaths occurred in hospitals, six were in care homes, and four were at home or in a non-institutional setting.

Among those who died, 20 were female and 16 were male.

NRS said overall suspected or confirmed Covid deaths were lower in September this year – 35 per 100,000 – compared to August – 46 per 100,000.

The highest rate of Covid deaths was 585 per 100,000 in April 2020, the figures show.

Of the 15,794 deaths involving the virus between March 2020 and September this year, 93% (14,750) of those who died had at least one pre-existing condition, with the most common being dementia or Alzheimer’s disease.

NRS said there have been nine deaths in Scotland in which the underlying cause of death was due to adverse effects of a vaccination against Covid-19, with four further fatalities having an adverse effect mentioned on the death certificate.

Pete Whitehouse, director of statistical services at NRS, said people living in the most deprived areas were 2.4 times as likely to die with Covid-19 as those in the least deprived areas.

He said: “The size of this gap slowly widened over the period of the pandemic but has narrowed since January 2022, when the gap was 2.5.

“The number of deaths from all causes registered in Scotland in this week was 1,275, which is 165, or 15%, more than the five-year average.”

By September 30 this year, statistics from Public Health Scotland show 4.4 million people had been given at least one vaccine dose.

Earlier this week, the Health Secretary warned another wave of Covid-19 is expected in Scotland this winter as latest figures showed the number of people in hospital with coronavirus increased 12.6 per cent last week.