Half of Scottish COVID-19 related deaths in care homes

More than half of all coronavirus-related registered deaths in Scotland for the week ending 24 May occurred in care homes, according to the latest set of official figures.

Figures published by the National Records of Scotland, show while the number of deaths in care homes fell for a fourth week in a row, down by 62 from last week to 124, they still accounted for 54% of all the coronavirus-related deaths in Scotland.

The statistics also show that as of 24 May, 3,779 deaths have been registered in Scotland where COVID-19 was mentioned on the death certificate.

Between 18 and 24 May, 230 deaths relating to COVID-19 have been registered, a decrease of 105 from the previous week, 11 to 17 May.

Deaths involving COVID-19 as a proportion of all deaths has now fallen to 19% in week 21, having reached 36% in week 17. This is the fourth weekly reduction in a row of deaths involving COVID-19.

The director of statistical services, Pete Whitehouse said: ‘Every death from this virus is a tragedy. These statistics, alongside the other important evidence being made available by the Scottish Government and Health Protection Scotland (HPS), are valuable to the understanding of the progress and impact of the COVID-19 virus across Scotland.

‘These latest figures show that for the fourth week running there has been a reduction in COVID-19 related deaths.

‘Our aim is to ensure that our statistical publication provides information that is as useful as possible and adds value to the understanding of how the virus is spreading throughout the country. We will continue to review and develop these statistics as new information is made available.’

The Office for National Statistics published its latest set of statistics for England earlier this week, which showed that there have been 11,650 coronavirus-related deaths in care homes up to the week ending 15 May.

And according to the CQC figures, the number of coronavirus-related deaths in care homes dropped from 1,390 in the week ending 15 May to 870 in the week of 22 May.

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