Coronavirus: Quarter of all deaths in Scotland in care homes

Nicola Sturgeon vows any resident displaying symptoms of Covid-19 will be tested

Nicola Sturgeon has announced new measures to protect people in care after new figures revealed almost a quarter of all coronavirus-related deaths in Scotland have been in care homes.

Scotland’s first minister vowed all residents displaying symptoms of Covid-19 will now be tested, but tested she “did not have evidence” bringing this measure in earlier would have prevented deaths.

Statistics covering the start of the outbreak until 12 April show 962 recorded fatalities had Covid-19 mentioned on the death certificate.

Of these, 237 (24.6 per cent) were in care homes, 596 (62 per cent) were in hospitals, 128 (13.3 per cent) were in homes or other places listed as non-institutions and one was listed as other.

The data, from the National Records of Scotland (NRS), is published weekly in contrast to the daily figures released by Health Protection Scotland (HPS), which only count laboratory confirmations of coronavirus and recorded 699 deaths as of Wednesday.

A total of 608 deaths relating to Covid-19 were registered between 6 April and 12 April – more than double the figure of 282 registered between 30 March and 5 April, according to the NRS.

There were 62 deaths between 23 March and 29 March, and 10 in the week of 16-22 March, when the registration mentioned the virus.

The total number of all deaths registered in Scotland from 6 April to 12 April was 1,696, 79 per cent (896 deaths) higher than the average for the same week over the past five years of 1,100.

Coronavirus-related deaths registered between 6-12 April accounted for 31 per cent of all deaths registered in that period – up from 16 per cent the previous week.

Speaking at the daily Scottish Government coronavirus briefing on Wednesday, Ms Sturgeon said suspected Covid-19 deaths recorded by NRS Scotland are “higher than anybody would ever want to think about”.

She added: “This shouldn’t need said but I want to say it – the residents of care homes matter every bit as much to us as people in the community or in hospital.

“We do need this further information to understand the toll this virus is having, how and where the virus is progressing and to inform what we do next.”

The first minister said 433 care homes have recorded a case of Covid-19 since the beginning of the outbreak and the Scottish government is working with partners to ensure workers and residents are supported.

Pete Whitehouse, NRS statistical services director, said: “All of these deaths are tragic for the families involved.

“These statistics, when placed alongside the other important evidence being made available by the Scottish Government and Health Protection Scotland, are valuable to the understanding of the progress and impact of the Covid-19 virus across the country.”

Additional reporting by Press Association