Coronavirus: More than 600 deaths recorded since last week

More than 600 deaths linked to coronavirus have been recorded in Scotland since last week.

At the Scottish Government’s briefing on Wednesday, Nicola Sturgeon confirmed a further 92 people have died after being diagnosed with Covid-19.

That takes the number of confirmed and suspected coronavirus deaths registered since January 18 to 631.

At least 111 of the deaths have occurred in care homes, according to statistics by National Records of Scotland (NRS).

At the briefing, the First Minister held a moment of silence “in memory of all those who have died in this pandemic so far and in sympathy with all those left behind”.

The death toll of those who had tested positive stands at 5888, however weekly figures on suspected Covid-19 deaths recorded by NRS suggest the most up-to-date total is at least 7902.

Total confirmed cases of the virus has risen to 175,332 – a jump of 1330 in the past 24 hours.

The daily test positivity rate is 6.2%, down from the 9% reported on Tuesday when 1049 cases were recorded.

Of the new cases reported on Wednesday, 394 are in the Greater Glasgow and Clyde region, 245 are in Lanarkshire, and 135 are in Lothian.

The rest of the cases are spread out across nine other health board areas.

According to NHS boards across Scotland, 2016 people are currently in hospital with confirmed or suspected Covid-19 – an increase of six overnight. Out of those, 145 patients are in intensive care.

The First Minister also confirmed that 462,092 Scots have now received their first dose of a coronavirus vaccine, an increase of 24,192 from the previous day.

The First Minister apologised for any mistakes made in response to the UK’s coronavirus death toll passing 100,000.

She said: “I know that I, and everyone in my government, have tried every day to do everything we possibly can.

“But I don’t think any of us, reflecting on numbers like these, can conclude that we have always succeeded.

“And for any mistakes we have made, firstly I take responsibility for that, and I am – and I always will be – truly sorry for any mistakes we have made or for any reflections that we could have done things differently.”

On Wednesday, NRS revealed there were 448 deaths linked to Covid registered between January 18 and 24 – the highest number since last May.

Of these, the majority were in hospital at 294, with 111 in care homes, 35 at home or in a non-institutional setting, and eight in other institutions.

North Lanarkshire recorded the highest number of deaths at 48, followed by Glasgow City at 43 and Fife at 33.

NRS also reported that 72% of the deaths were of people aged 75 and over, with 14% under 65.

Pete Whitehouse, NRS director of statistical services, said: “Each statistic represents heartbreak for families and friends across the country.

“These latest figures show that the week ending January 24 has the highest number of Covid-19-related deaths registered since the week ending May 3, 2020.”