Deaths involving COVID-19 Week 10: 8 March - 14 March

As at 14th March, 9,831 deaths have been registered in Scotland where the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) was mentioned on the death certificate, according to statistics published by National Records of Scotland (NRS) today. 

In the week 8-14 March 104 deaths were registered that mentioned COVID-19 on the death certificate, a decrease of 38 deaths from the previous week.

Over 80% of deaths this week occurred in hospital, representing 86 deaths, 14 deaths occurred in care homes and 4 at home or in non-institutional settings.

Deaths from all causes are below average for this time of year, this week there were 90 fewer deaths when compared with the five year average.

This is the first time since October that deaths have been below average, apart from the week of 11 – 17 January when the statistics were affected by the Christmas holiday period.

Pete Whitehouse, Director of Statistical Services, said:

“Over the last year, COVID-19 has had a devastating impact on communities across the country, my heartfelt sympathies go out to all those who have lost someone to this virus.

“The latest statistics show that for the seventh consecutive week, we have seen a welcome reduction in the number of deaths. This is the lowest number of weekly deaths since the week of 19th to 25th October.

“We also published monthly statistics reporting on mortality by deprivation, occupation and pre-existing health conditions. Between March 2020 and February 2021, 93% of those who died had at least one pre-existing condition.  The most common main pre-existing condition was dementia and Alzheimer’s, accounting for 25% of all deaths involving COVID-19.”

The publication Deaths involving coronavirus (COVID-19) in Scotland is available on the NRS website.