Weekly coronavirus deaths on the rise, figures show

Confirmed or suspected coronavirus deaths in Scotland rose in the week to Sunday, according to the latest figures.

Data from National Records of Scotland (NRS) showed that 66 deaths were registered that mentioned Covid-19 on the death certificate in the week to August 14, an increase of six deaths from the previous week.

As of Sunday, 15,491 deaths have been registered in Scotland where Covid-19 was mentioned on the death certificate.

Of those who died, 49 were aged 75 or older, 12 were aged 65 to 74, and five were under 65.

Fifty of the deaths were in hospitals, 10 were in care homes, and six were at home or a non-institutional setting.

Pete Whitehouse, NRS director of Statistical Services, said: “The latest figures show that last week there were 66 deaths where Covid-19 was mentioned on the death certificate. This is six more deaths than the previous week.

“People living in the most deprived areas were 2.3 times as likely to die with Covid-19 as those in the least deprived areas.

“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 1,126, which is 112, or 11%, more than the five-year average.”

Of those who died in the week to Sunday, 27 were female and 39 were male.

Between December 2020 and the end of July 2022, there were nine deaths where the underlying cause of death was reported as being due to adverse effects of Covid-19 vaccines, with none occurring in the last month.

There were two additional deaths in July where adverse effects of Covid-19 vaccination was mentioned on the death certificate but not as the underlying cause, bringing that total to four.