Coronavirus linked with another 40 deaths in Tayside and Fife in space of one week

Forty more deaths were linked to coronavirus across Tayside and Fife last week.

New National Records of Scotland (NRS) data shows that as of Sunday a total of 3546 deaths registered in Scotland have been associated with Covid-19 since the start of the outbreak.

The total number of deaths across Tayside and Fife between Monday, May 11 and Sunday, May 17 – where the virus was mentioned on the death certificate –  was 40.

A regional breakdown shows that 257 Scottish Covid-19 deaths registered since the start of the pandemic were in Tayside and 177 in Fife; taking the toll for Courier country to 434 since the pandemic began.

Of the Tayside figure: 136 deaths were in Dundee, 59 were in Angus, and 62 were in Perth and Kinross.

A total of 115 deaths in Tayside and 66 in the kingdom have been in care homes.

Last week’s figure, which was valid as of May 10, showed that 394 deaths were registered across Courier country.

Of this figure: 124 deaths were in Dundee, 54 were in Angus, 54 were in Perth and Kinross, and 162 were in Fife.

Across the whole of Scotland there were a total of 332 Covid-19 deaths registered between May 11 and May 17, a decrease of 83 on the week before. It is the third weekly reduction in Scotland’s death rate in a row.

A total of 184 Covid-19 deaths in the past week (55%) took place in care homes, a drop of 54 on the week before.

The NRS figures include all cases where Covid-19 is mentioned in a person’s death certificate and are distinct from the daily figures produced by Health Protection Scotland (HPS), which have so far included only individuals who have died within 28 days of testing positive for the virus.

This method recorded 3546 deaths in Scotland linked to Covid-19 as of May 17, compared to the 2134 fatalities recorded by the HPS system at the time.

The total number of Covid-19 deaths in Scotland has risen from 3,213 last week.