70 care home residents die from Covid in ONE week

SOARING numbers of elderly people are dying as the deadly second wave of coronavirus engulfs Scottish care homes.

Seventy residents were confirmed to have died from the virus in one week – the highest seven-day toll in more than five months – and one in seven care homes has an outbreak.

Scottish Tory health spokesman Donald Cameron said: ‘The SNP must do everything it can to protect our care homes.’ He added that a report into how patients were moved from hospital to homes during the first wave of the pandemic had ‘failed to provide the answers grieving families need’.

The Care Inspectorate reported that 70 people died from confirmed coronavirus in care homes in the week to November 8, with four more suspected cases. Over the summer, care home deaths from the virus dwindled to low single digits.

As of Wednesday, 146 – or 14 per cent – of Scottish care homes had a case of suspected coronavirus, up nine on the previous week.

In the week to November 8, there were 277 new confirmed cases of Covid among home residents, down from 330 the week before.

A Care Inspectorate spokesman said: ‘Care home staff are working hard in challenging circumstances to protect vulnerable people. The Care Inspectorate is doing everything it can to support them.’

The Scottish Government said: ‘We are keeping in close contact with public health teams to carefully monitor the situation.’

Public Health Scotland revealed last month that, early in the pandemic, 113 patients were sent to homes while potentially infectious, with over 3,000 moved without being tested.