Covid-19 deaths in Scotland’s care homes have started to outstrip those in hospitals for the first time, latest statistics show.  

In the last week there were 338 virus fatalities in residential care, compared to 276 in hospitals. Nicola Sturgeon said today this is partly due to hospital deaths falling.

It comes as Scotland’s leading social care representative body calls for an urgent strategy to support care homes as they try to deal with the impact of coronavirus.

Since the start of the pandemic, nearly four in ten covid-19 deaths have taken place in care homes – and the proportion is continuing to rise.

Speaking today, the First Minister said the concerning figures were “broadly in line” with the proportions being reported in other countries.

(Courtesy of the National Records of Scotland)

Up to the 26^th April, a total of 2,272 deaths had been registered in Scotland where covid-19 was mentioned in the death certificate, according to statistics published by National Records of Scotland (NRS) today.

From the 20^th April to the 26^th April, 656 more deaths relating to covid-19 were recorded registered.

The total number of deaths registered in Scotland from the 20^th April to the 26^th April was 1,830 – 68% more than the average number of deaths registered in the same week over the last five years (1,087).

Of these 743 excess deaths, 85% were where covid-19 was the underlying cause of death.

During the daily Scottish Government press briefings, only deaths that followed a positive test result for covid-19 are given. The weekly publication from NRS is more comprehensive, covering all those deaths where there had been a positive test result or where the virus was thought to have been a contributing factor but no test had taken place.

Last week, Professor of Public Health Linda Bauld urged the government to reopen some parts of the health service to reduce excess deaths and said that delayed or cancelled treatments, and people not contacting their doctor, were likely to be behind rise.

Today’s publication from the National Records of Scotland shows nearly four in ten all registered deaths involving covid-19 in Scotland so far occurred in a care home.

Just over half took place in hospital, while 9% were at home or in a ‘non-institutional’ setting.

A call for an urgent strategy to support care homes by the representative body Scottish Care, includes demands for increased testing and financial support to enable care providers to buy in additional face masks.

Former chair of a national inquiry into an e-coli outbreak in Scotland Professor Hugh Pennington told the Scottish Parliament’s health and sport committee yesterday that testing in care homes needed to increase significantly to stop covid-19’s “rampage”.

Almost three quarters of registered deaths involving the virus were among people aged 75 or over and of all deaths so far, 53% were male and 47% were female – figures broadly similar to last week.

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