THERE were 40 confirmed or suspected coronavirus deaths in Scotland including three from the Scottish Borders over the latest weekly period up to Sunday September 18.

The latest figures from the UK coronavirus dashboard show a total of 15,702 deaths registered in Scotland where Covid-19 was mentioned on the death certificate including 291 people in the Scottish Borders.

Of all the deaths involving Covid-19 between March 2020 and August 2022, 93% had at least one pre-existing condition, with dementia and Alzheimer’s disease the most common (22%).

Pete Whitehouse, NRS director of Statistical Services, said: “The latest figures show that last week there were 40 deaths where Covid-19 was mentioned on the death certificate. This is the same as in the previous week.

“People living in the most deprived areas were 2.4 times as likely to die with Covid-19 as those in the least deprived areas.”

Meanwhile, Public Health Scotland (PHS) figures showed that in the week ending September 18 there were on average 631 patients in hospital with Covid-19, a 4% decrease on the previous week.

There were 254 new Covid-19 admissions to hospital, down from 370 in the week to September 11.

The number of admissions to Intensive Care Units (ICUs) with a laboratory-confirmed test of Covid-19 increased to 16, up seven on the previous week ending September 11.

Public Health Scotland recently stopped reporting deaths for anyone who died within 28 days of a positive test result for Covid-19.

Instead, the weekly figures now include anyone whose death certificate – registered in the week ending Sunday – mentions Covid-19 as one of the causes.

Deaths in Scotland are recorded by registration date, and are allocated to the deceased's usual area of residence.