Deaths involving COVID-19 Week 1: 3 January - 9 January 2022

As at 9 January 2022, 12,543 deaths have been registered in Scotland where the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) was mentioned on the death certificate, according to statistics published today by National Records of Scotland (NRS).

In the week 3 to 9 January, 72 deaths were registered that mentioned COVID-19 on the death certificate, an increase of 27 deaths from the previous week. 

12 deaths were aged under 65, 12 were aged 65-74 and there were 48 deaths in people aged 75 or over. 32 were male, 40 were female.

Fife (10 deaths) City of Edinburgh (8 deaths) and Glasgow City (7 deaths) had the highest numbers of deaths at council level. In total, 25 (out of 32) council areas had at least one death last week

49 deaths were in hospitals, 18 were in care homes and 5 were at home or in a non-institutional setting. 

Pete Whitehouse, Director of Statistical Services, said:

“The latest figures show that last week there were 72 deaths where COVID-19 was mentioned on the death certificate. This is 27 more deaths than the previous week.

“The number of deaths from all causes registered in Scotland in this week was 1,208, 13% lower than the five year average.

“Statistics based on death registrations can be volatile at this time of year due to a combination of registration office opening hours, how public holidays fall, and decisions people take regarding registering a death during this period.  Care needs to be taken when interpreting data for the first and last few weeks of the year. The real trend will become clearer in the coming weeks.”

As we have moved into a new year, the five-year average which is being used for the calculation of excess deaths has changed. 2022 deaths are being compared against a five year average of the years 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2021. More information on this is available on the NRS website.

The publication Deaths involving coronavirus (COVID-19) in Scotland is available on the NRS website.

Background

NRS figures include deaths where ‘suspected’ or ‘probable’ COVID-19 appears on the death certificate. 

Data are provisional and subject to change in future weekly publications. The 2021 data will be finalised in summer 2022.

Media enquiries should be directed to:
Donna Green
NRS Communications
Tel: 07775-027-380
Email: [email protected]

Further information about the statistics is available from:
NRS Customer Services
Email: [email protected]