The National Records of Scotland are announcing deaths from Covid-19 each week on a Wednesday.
Today they say that as at 12 April 2020 962 deaths where Covid-19 was mentioned on the death certificate were registered in Scotland.
Between 6 – 12 April 2020, 608 deaths relating to COVID-19 have been registered, up from 282 deaths in the previous week, 30 March to 5 April 2020.
To place these statistics in context, from 6 – 12 April the total number of deaths registered in Scotland was 1,969. Registered deaths involving Covid-19 in the same week accounted for 31% of all deaths registered in that week. The average number of deaths registered for this week over the last five years was 1,100.
From this week onwards, NRS statistics also provide a national breakdown by the location of death. This information shows that, to date, a quarter of all registered deaths involving Covid-19 occurred in care homes. 62% of registered deaths were in hospitals and 13% were at home or non-institutional settings.
Almost 70% of all registered deaths involving Covid -19 to date were people aged 75 or over.
The highest number of registered deaths involving Covid-19 up to 12 April 2020 were of people living in the Greater Glasgow and Clyde Health Board area where 193 deaths were recorded. To date, there have been no registered deaths involving Covid-19 in the Western Isles.
Pete Whitehouse, Director of Statistical Services, said:“All of these deaths are tragic for the families involved. These statistics, when placed 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 the country.
“To add context to these statistics, we have updated this week’s publication to include a national breakdown by the location of death, providing additional information on where an individual has died, whether that is in hospital, in a care home, at home or in another location. We have also added information on the trend in deaths by date of death in addition to date of registration.
“We are actively considering how we continue to develop the content of our statistics to ensure they provide the most useful information possible and add value to the understanding of how the virus is spreading throughout Scotland.”
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Edinburgh-born multimedia journalist and iPhoneographer.
