Deaths involving coronavirus (COVID-19) in Scotland

Last update: 16 December 2020
Next update: 23 December 2020
Frequency: See Note        

	Report: Week 50 (PDF 290 KB)		Data and Charts (Excel     CSV)
	News Release (16 December 2020)		Open Data
	Related Statistics		Archive

Correction - 17 December 2020

An error was found in Figure 6 of this publication after it was published. Due to an error in the transferal of data from our processing files to our output files, the data for date of death was out by two days for deaths occurring after 3 August. This has been amended, and we apologise for any inconvenience this has caused.

Key Findings

• As at the 13th of December, there have been a total of 6,092 deaths registered in Scotland where the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) was mentioned on the death certificate.
• Of the total number of deaths registered in week 50 (7 December to 13 December), there were 224 where COVID-19 was mentioned on the death certificate, a decrease of 8 from the previous week (30 November to 6 December).
• Of deaths involving COVID-19 in the latest week:
  • Three quarters (75%) were aged 75+, and 10% were aged under 65.
  • 51% were male (115 deaths) and 49% female (109 deaths).
  • There were 58 deaths in Greater Glasgow and Clyde Health Board area, 48 in Lanarkshire and 40 in Lothian.
  • At council level, the highest number of deaths occurred in South Lanarkshire (34), Glasgow City (29) and City of Edinburgh (19).
  • The majority (69%) occurred in hospitals (154 deaths), with 62 deaths in care homes and 8 at home or in non-institutional settings.

Change to frequency of this publication

National Records of Scotland (NRS) has been closely monitoring the weekly number of deaths, and given the increase in recent weeks, we have taken the decision to make additional weekly analysis available through this short publication providing  a weekly breakdown of deaths from all causes and deaths involving COVID-19.  

This weekly publication includes breakdowns by sex, age, health board, local authority and location of death.  It also includes an analysis of excess deaths by location and broad cause of death.

In addition, we publish a comprehensive and detailed analysis of mortality on a monthly basis.  This report includes analysis of deaths occurring in the previous month, and looks at age-standardised death rates, breakdown by deprivation, urban/rural, an analysis of leading causes of death and a breakdown by main pre-existing condition of those who died with COVID-19.  

NRS mortality data (COVID-19 and excess deaths) will continue to be made available on a weekly basis through the Scottish Government’s COVID-19 dashboard.

Publication Plans over the Christmas Period

As there will be limited registration activity due to public holidays over the Christmas period, we have made some adjustments to our publication plans for the weekly report as follows:

Deaths registered in week 51 (14th to 20th December) – Publish as usual on Wednesday 23rd December

Deaths registered in week 52 (21st to 27th December) – No publication on Wednesday 30th December

Deaths registered in week 53 (28th December to 3rd January) – Published on Thursday 7th January (will also include figures for week 52)

Contact Us

Please get in touch if you need any further information, or have any suggestions for improvement.

Statistics Customer Services telephone: (0131) 314 4299
E-mail: statisticscustomerservices@nrscotland.gov.uk

For media enquiries, please contact communications@nrscotland.gov.uk