Deaths involving COVID-19 Week 19: 9 - 15 May 2022

As at 15 May 2022, 14,699 deaths have been registered in Scotland where the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) was mentioned on the death certificate, according to statistics published today by National Records of Scotland (NRS).

In the week 9 to 15 May, 60 deaths were registered that mentioned COVID-19 on the death certificate, a decrease of 27 deaths from the previous week.

46 of the deaths were aged 75 or older, seven were aged 65 to 74, and seven were under 65. 21 were female and 39 were male.

There were five deaths in Fife and five deaths in Renfrewshire, with four deaths in each of Aberdeenshire, Glasgow City, North Lanarkshire, and South Lanarkshire.

In total, 23 council areas (out of 32) had at least one death involving COVID-19 last week.

44 were in hospitals, nine were in care homes, and seven were at home or a non-institutional setting.

Our monthly analysis shows that the age standardised death rate for deaths involving COVID-19 was lower in April 2022 (112 per 100,000) compared to March 2022 (147 per 100,000). Throughout the pandemic, the highest rate was 585 deaths per 100,000 people in April 2020.

Of the 14,616 deaths involving COVID-19 between March 2020 and April 2022, 93% (13,606) had at least one pre-existing condition. Just under one quarter of people whose death involved COVID-19 had dementia or Alzheimer’s disease. This was the most common main pre-existing condition.

Pete Whitehouse, Director of Statistical Services, said:

“The latest figures show that last week there were 60 deaths where COVID-19 was mentioned on the death certificate. This is 27 fewer deaths than the previous week.

“The number of deaths from all causes registered in Scotland in the latest week was 1,221, which is 176, or 17%, more than the five year average.”

There have been nine deaths in Scotland in which the underlying cause of death was due to the adverse effects of vaccination against COVID-19, and two further deaths where an adverse effect was mentioned on the death certificate. This is no increase from the figure reported last month. By 30 April 2022, statistics from Public Health Scotland state that 4.4 million people had been given at least one vaccine dose.

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

Background

Since 23 March we have ceased publishing weekly news releases and full reports but continue to update the weekly COVID-19 death information in our data and charts spreadsheet. We publish a full report and news release at 9.30 am once a month.

NRS figures include deaths where ‘suspected’ or ‘probable’ COVID-19 appears on the death certificate.

Data are provisional and subject to change in future weekly publications. The 2021 data will be finalised in summer 2022.

Media enquiries should be directed to:
Donna Green
NRS Communications
Tel: 07775-027-380
Email: [email protected]

Further information about the statistics is available from:
NRS Customer Services
Email: [email protected]