Covid fatalities include Perth and Kinross resident

APerth and Kinross resident has become the area’s first coronavirus victim since August. Confirmation of the death came amid news of a further seven fatalities nationwide in figures announced yesterday.

The deaths were registered the previous day, but it is belie ved the Tayside victim died on Saturday.

It is the first coronavirus death recorded in the Perth and Kinross area since August 28, when Barbara Thom, 93, from the Auchterarder area succumbed to the virus.

Barbara was well-known in Auchterarder as a serving elder at the parish church for nearly 40 years.

She was also a popular employee at Ochil Tower

School, were she worked until she was 91

Her death was the area’s first Covid-related fatality in almost three months.

A total of 1,297 people tested positive for the virus in the 24 hours to yesterday, 95 of them across Tayside and Fife.

Of these new cases, 42 were in Fife, 32 in Dundee, 14 in Angus, and seven across Perth and Kinross.

The number of people who have died after testing positive for the virus in Scotland has now risen to 2,557.

The latest weekly rates of new cases of Covid-19 for every local authority area in Scotland for the seven days to October 10 have also been calculated, based on data published by Public Health Scotland, from tests carried out in NHS laboratories and commercial partners.

The rate is expressed as the number of new cases per 100,000 people and the data revealed a Dundee figure of 138, with 206 new cases recorded.

F i f e’s rate per 100k population was 55.7, with 208 new cases; Angus 31, with 36 new cases, and Perth and Kinross 29.6, with 45 new cases in the preceding seven days.

The areas of Glasgow City, South and North Lanarkshire and Renfrewshire all recorded infection rates of more than 200 per 100,000 population.

Glasgow saw 1,702 new cases during that period, with a combined figure of almost 3,700 new cases between the four worst-affected areas. by

A total of 41,256 people have now tested positive in Scotland, up from 39,959 on Monday.

There are 527 people in hospital confirmed to have the virus, up 40 in 24 hours.

Of those patients, 35 are in intensive care, a reduction of one from the previous day.

Announcing the latest deaths at her daily press briefing in Edinburgh, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said each death continued to be a tragedy.

She said: “Every person who dies from this virus was, of course, an irreplaceable individual, whose loss will be a source of heartbreak

“Once again, my condolences go to everybody who is grieving someone dear to them.”

TRAGEDY: First Minister Nicola Sturgeon emphasised that each person who died from the virus was “irreplaceable”.