A quarter of the 962 coronavirus deaths recorded in Scotland as of Sunday related to care homes, new figures have revealed.
For the first time, the National Records of Scotland (NRS) has published new statistics which reveal the number of people who died of either suspected or confirmed Covid-19 in the country’s care homes.
A total of 237 (25%) of Covid-19 deaths registered up to April 12 related to deaths in care homes, while 596 (62%) were in hospitals and 129 (13%) were at home or non-institutional settings.
The organisation introduced a new recording method last week which includes all cases where Covid-19 is mentioned in a person’s death certificate while daily figures produced by Health Protection Scotland (HPS) have so far included only individuals who have died within 28 days of testing positive for the virus.
This method recorded 962 deaths in Scotland linked to Covid-19 as of April 12, compared to the 569 fatalities recorded by the HPS system at that time – a jump of 41%.
Speaking in her daily press conference, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon confirmed Care Inspectorate figures to be published daily from now on show that 433 care homes across Scotland have so far recorded instances of coronavirus since the epidemic began.
She also confirmed that the government is moving to test all symptomatic patients in care homes, where previously only the first residents to present with symptoms were tested.
Although this is not “strictly necessary”, it was important for the confidence of relatives and staff given the “vulnerability” of care homes.
The First Minister also revealed 6,748 patients have now tested positive for Covid-19, an increase of 390 from official Scottish Government figures released on Tuesday.
A total of 1,748 patients are in hospital with either suspected or confirmed Covid-19, an increase of 53 since yesterday and a total of 195 people were in intensive care as of last night – an increase of one.
Ms Sturgeon said said the intensive care figures gives the Scottish Government cause for some “very cautious optimism” but added it was “too early to be definitive about that”.
She added that according to the government’s daily figures, 84 people have died from Covid-19 since Tuesday, taking the total to 699.
Commenting on the new NRS figures, Ms Sturgeon said the total of 962 Covid-19-related deaths were “higher than anyone would like to think about”.
She added: “I should make it very clear, this shouldn’t need said but I want to say it, that the residents of care homes matter every bit as much to us as people in the community or in hospital.
“It is just as important in care homes as it is anywhere else. In fact I’d say it’s more important given their vulnerability or susceptibility to infection spreading that we do all we can to prevent infection or control it when there is infection in a care home.”
According to the data provided by NRS as of Sunday, the vast majority of Covid-19 deaths in Scotland so far have been among those aged over 65, with those aged over 75 accounting for 37% of the total.
Deaths have also been broken down by gender and the local health board involved.
Of the 969 Covid-19 deaths recorded last week, 56.5% were men and 37.3% were women.
Coronavirus was linked to 1.3% and 0.8% of deaths in the Tayside and Grampian health board areas respectively, with Highland linking the virus to 0.9% of deaths and 1.2% in Fife.
Statistics from the NRS also show the total number of deaths registered in Scotland for any reason last week was 1,969, an increase of 225 from the number registered in the previous week, and the highest total since at least 2004.
The average number of deaths recorded in the same week over the last five years was 1,100.
Scottish Labour health spokeswoman Monica Lennon has called for the Scottish Government to publish an emergency plan to prevent the continued rapid spread of coronavirus in care homes, claiming it has been “too slow to act”.
She has written to Health Secretary Jeane Freeman asking whether hospital patients are tested for the virus before they are discharged to a care home.
Ms Lennon said each life lost in a care home due to coronavirus is a “tragedy”.
She added: “It’s heartbreaking that care staff and families fear that older people are being forgetten in the fight against coronavirus.
“The Scottish Government has been too slow to act – Nicola Sturgeon must publish an emergency plan for care homes with guaranteed support on testing and PPE.
“Hundreds of older people have been discharged from hospital in recent weeks to relieve pressure on our NHS – and many of them to residential care.
“Worryingly, we now know that coronavirus is spreading within hospitals, as well as care homes, but efforts to test, trace and isolate the virus are woeful.
“That’s why I’ve asked Jeane Freeman whether hospital patients are being treated for Covid-19 before being discharged to care homes – and if not, why not?
“Urgent action is needed to save lives.”
