The number of deaths involving coronavirus in Scotland has fallen for the third week running.
There were 332 deaths which cited Covid-19 on the death certificate in the week ending May 17, according to the latest figures from National Records of Scotland (NRS), down 83 on the previous week.
Since the pandemic began up until last Sunday, a total of 3546 people have died with either confirmed or suspected coronavirus.
But First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said there had been another 50 deaths reported in the last 24 hours among confirmed Covid-19 cases.
That brings the total this week so far – tallied separately by Health Protection Scotland – to 81, giving a complete death toll of 3627.
Last week, care homes accounted for 55% of all coronavirus-linked deaths in Scotland, down from 57% the week before.
The number of actual deaths in care homes also fell for a third week, by 54 to 184, according to the NRS statistics.
To date, 46% of registered Covid-19 deaths were in care homes, with 47% in hospitals and 7% of deaths at home or in other settings.
Speaking at First Minister’s Questions on Wednesday, Sturgeon said new daily cases of the virus in Scotland have risen to 96, although it is the fourth day in a row the figure is below 100.
That brings total confirmed cases in Scotland since the pandemic began to 14,751.
She said a total of 1443 people are in hospital overall with coronavirus or coronavirus symptoms, a decline of four on Tuesday.
Intensive care patients number 53, a fall of six, the lowest number recorded since March 25.
The NRS figures show deaths involving Covid-19 as a proportion of all deaths have fallen to 23%, the third consecutive weekly reduction, having previously been as high as 36%.
The total number of deaths registered in Scotland from May 11 to May 17 was 1415 – 33% more than the average number of deaths registered in the same week over the last five years.
But this is a fall of 49 from the number of excess deaths registered the week before.
Of the 351 excess deaths in the week ending May 17, 85% had coronavirus as the underlying cause of death.
Three quarters of registered deaths involving Covid-19 to date were people aged 75 or over, 76%.
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