Localcovid deathrate fallsby60%

Coronavirus deaths in South Lanarkshire fell by more than 60 per cent last week, reaching the lowest level since the end of March.

One week after recording the highest number of coronavirus deaths in Scotland, South Lanarkshire recorded five deaths – the third largest in the country.

Figures released by the National Records of Scotland revealed that last week saw the lowest number of Covid-19 related deaths since the first three were recorded in the area in the week ending March 29.

However, only Glasgow (10) and Edinburgh (6) recorded a higher number of Covid-19 related deaths than South Lanarkshire last week.

Three of the five deaths occurred in hospitals, with the other two at care homes.

That brings the total number of coronavirus deaths in South Lanarkshire to 300, of which 136 were in care homes; 134 in hospital and 30 were in other settings, including at home.

North Lanarkshire recorded its lowest level of weekly deaths at four – none of which occurred in the region’s care homes.

In total, there have been 261 deaths where coronavirus was listed in North Lanarkshire.

Of those, 91 were in care homes, 147 in hospital and 23 were other settings, including at home. That takes the total number of coronavirus deaths in the area to 561 as of June 14.

Lanarkshire as a whole remains the second-worst affected health board in Scotland, with 8.5 deaths for every 10,000 people. Only Greater Glasgow and Clyde saw a higher death rate (11).

Lothian (699) and Greater Glasgow and Clyde (1,300) have seen a higher number of coronavirus deaths than Lanarkshire, although the death rate in Lothian is only 7.7 because of the bigger population.

Last week was the seventh consecutive week in which coronavirus deaths in Scotland decreased.

There were 70 across the country bringing the total to 4,070. More than threequarters (77 per cent) were aged 75 or over, while 47 per cent of deaths occurred in care homes.