Weekly figures show 140 Covid deaths recorded in Scotland

A total of 140 coronavirus deaths were recorded in Scotland in the past week, an increase of five on the previous week.

According to figures from the National Records of Scotland (NRS), 11,818 people have now died in Scotland with confirmed or suspected coronavirus.

Figures for November 1 to 7 show there were 140 coronavirus deaths, the highest figure since the week beginning October 11, when 141 people died with Covid-19.

Of the latest deaths, 25 were people aged under 65, 43 were aged 65-74 and 72 were 75 or older.

Glasgow City saw 23 deaths, with 14 in East Ayrshire and 11 in North Lanarkshire.

A total of 116 deaths were in hospitals, ten were in care homes, and 14 were at home or in a non-institutional setting.

The weekly report from the statistics body said daily deaths began to rise in July and continued to increase through most of September.

They then fell back in October and, by the end of that month, the average number of deaths occurring each day was 17.

On Tuesday, Deputy First Minister John Swinney told MSPs at Holyrood that the country is in a “precarious and unpredictable” situation in regards to Covid-19.

He said hospitals were under increasing pressure and further measures could have to be brought in to guard against a rise in Covid cases over the winter.

Pete Whitehouse, director of statistical services at NRS, said: “The number of deaths from all causes registered in Scotland in this week was 1288, which is 209, or 19%, more than the five-year average.”

The statistics are published weekly and cover all deaths registered in Scotland where Covid-19 was mentioned on the death certificate.

They differ from the lab-confirmed coronavirus deaths announced daily by the Scottish Government because the NRS figures include suspected or probable cases of Covid-19.

On Wednesday the Scottish Government reported that there had been 3852 new cases of coronavirus and 19 deaths recorded overnight.

The number of cases represented 9.1% of 44,434 new tests that reported results.

It was also revealed that 778 people with recently confirmed Covid-19 were in hospital and 61 of those were in intensive care.