Total deaths across Scotland return to pre-Covid-19 levels

THE first minister has hailed new figures showing deaths across Scotland have fallen to pre-coronavirus levels for the first time since late March.

New weekly figures released by the National Records of Scotland (NRS) reveal that from June 22-28 the total number of deaths registered in Scotland was 1,006. This is a decrease of 59 from the previous week.

The average number of deaths registered in Scotland in the corresponding week over the previous five years was 1,026. This is the first time since week 13 (March 23-29) that the total number of weekly deaths has fallen below the five-year average.

Speaking during her daily briefing, the first minister said the development was “very significant”.

She added: “The total number of deaths from all causes was 20 below the five year average. This is the first time since March that the total number of deaths has been below the fiveyear average. Last week it was 46 higher than average and 11 weeks ago the number of deaths was 878 higher.”

There has been one death from the virus in the last 24 hours, and eight confirmed cases have been reported since Tuesday, bringing the total across Scotland to 18,259 since the pandemic began.

Data released on NHS Scotland’s Test and Protect system showed that 1,398 cases were reported where an individual tested positive for Covid-19 between the day the system launched on May 28 and June 28. Contact tracing has been completed for 1,343 cases, with 1,871 contacts traced so far, at a rate of 1.4 people contact traced per person on average.