Deaths involving COVID-19 Weeks 51 & 52: 20 December 2021 to 2 January 2022

As at 2 January, 12,470 deaths have been registered in Scotland where the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) was mentioned on the death certificate, according to statistics published by National Records of Scotland (NRS) today.

Between 20 December and 2 January 97 deaths were registered that mentioned COVID-19 on the death certificate.

The number of deaths for week 51, 20 to 26 December, was 53 while 44 deaths were registered in the following week from 27 December to 2 January.

Total deaths from all causes in week 51 were 1,336 (5% above the five-year average) and in week 52 there were 1,076 (1% above average).

Pete Whitehouse, Director of Statistical Services, said: 

“Death registrations at this time of year are affected by public holidays. As a result the number of registered deaths is likely to be artificially low. We will have a more complete picture in the coming weeks.”

In the most recent week, 21 of the 44 deaths registered were male while 23 were female. 14 deaths were aged under 65, 6 were aged 65-74 and there were 24 deaths in people aged 75 or over. The City of Edinburgh Council and Glasgow City Council had the highest numbers of deaths at council level with six in each area. In total, 21 (out of 32) council areas had at least one death last week.

Background

The publication Deaths involving coronavirus (COVID-19) in Scotland is available on the NRS website. Breakdowns of these figures by date, underlying cause of death, and location can be found under the Data and Charts section of the same page as the publication.

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 data will be finalised in summer.

Media enquiries should be directed to:

Susie Rose
NRS communications
Tel: 07500 463452
Email: [email protected]

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