Weekly Covid deaths fall to lowest level since mid-June

Covid deaths in Scotland have fallen to the lowest level for two months, new figures show.

Data from National Records of Scotland show there were 57 deaths involving Covid-19 in the week ending August 21 – 10 fewer than the previous week.

The total is the lowest it has been since the week ending June 20, when there were 52 cases where the virus was mentioned on someone’s death certificate.

It means there have now been 15,550 deaths in Scotland where coronavirus was on the death certificate.

The most recent figure includes 12 deaths in the Greater Glasgow and Clyde NHS area, and eight in NHS Lothian, NHS Lanarkshire and NHS Highland.

A total of 41 of the deaths registered in the most recent week occurred in hospital, nine in care homes, and seven in what are classed “non-institutional settings”.

The figures were released the day after separate data showed the number of Covid patients in Scotland’s hospitals has fallen by more than 12% in a week.

Public Health Scotland found that in the week ending August 21, there were on average 819 patients with the virus receiving in-patient care – down 12.3% on the previous week.