Today's National Records of Scotland statistics show that less people in Ayrshire died from Covid than in the previous week.

It's the first time in a month that the number of weekly deaths has decreased when compared to the previous one.

The figures show that between October 4-10 there were 22 deaths in Ayrshire where Covid-19 was mentioned on the death certificate.

That's a decrease from 27 deaths the week before.

In East Ayrshire, eight people died, two less than the previous week. There were seven deaths in North Ayrshire, up three on the previous week. And in South Ayrshire seven people died, six less than the week before.

As of October 10, 11,262 deaths have been registered in Scotland where the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) was mentioned on the death certificate..

In the week October 4-10, 126 deaths were registered that mentioned COVID-19 on the death certificate, 17 less than last week.

26 deaths were of people aged under 65, 24 were people aged 65-74 and there were 76 deaths of people aged 75 or over. 82 deaths were male, 44 were female.

98 deaths were in hospitals, 19 were in care homes and nine were at home or a non-institutional setting.

Glasgow City (14 deaths), West Dunbartonshire (10 deaths) and West Lothian (nine deaths) had the highest numbers of deaths at council level. In total, 24 (out of 32) council areas had at least one death involving COVID-19 last week.

The number of deaths from all causes registered in Scotland in this week was 1,353. This is 315, or 30 per cent, more than the five year average.

There has been one further death where the underlying cause was adverse effects of the COVID-19 vaccine. This takes the total to five.   

Pete Whitehouse, Director of Statistical Services, said: “The latest figures show that last week there were 126 deaths where COVID-19 was mentioned on the death certificate. This is 17 fewer deaths than last week.

“With 1,353 deaths from all causes this week, this is now the 20th consecutive week with excess deaths above the five year average and is the highest level of excess deaths (315 this week) since week 1 (January 4-10) of 2021.”