A FURTHER 79 coronavirus deaths have been recorded in Scotland, Nicola Sturgeon confirmed at the start of FMQs this afternoon.

The First Minister gave the update as she set out changes to coronavirus lockdown restrictions in Scotland.

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Speaking in the Scottish Parliament, the First Minister said the number of people to die with Covid-19 under the Government’s measure – where a person dies within 28 days of a positive test – now stands at 5102.

Another 1949 positive coronavirus tests were returned yesterday, she added, accounting for 10.2% of all tests carried out.

That takes the total number of positive cases since the start of the pandemic in Scotland to 191,965.

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There are 1794 people in hospital with coronavirus, up 77 on the previous day, and 134 people in intensive care, an increase of one.

Meanwhile the National Records of Scotland (NRS), which reports all deaths where Covid-19 is mentioned on the death certificate, said the total death toll has passed the 7000 mark. 

NRS showed 384 deaths linked to coronavirus between January 4 and 10, an increase of 197 from the previous week.

As of Sunday, 7074 such deaths had been registered in Scotland.

Almost three-quarters (73%) of the deaths were of people aged 75 and over, while 9% were aged under 65.

There were 428 (34%) more deaths registered between January 4 and 10 compared to the five-year average for that week, and 76% of them had Covid-19 as an underlying cause.

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Pete Whitehouse, NRS director of statistical services, said: “Each statistic represents the death of a loved one and heartbreak for families and friends across the country.

“As expected, the number of deaths registered in week 1 of 2021 is significantly higher than that of week 53 of 2020 as registrars have dealt with backlogs from the Christmas period.

“It is difficult to monitor trends in death registrations at this time of year due to the impact of public holidays on registration activity.

“Next week’s report will include analysis of deaths by date of occurrence, and this will give a clearer indication of the trend at the end of 2020.”

In the week to January 10, the majority of deaths (65%) occurred in hospitals (251), with 113 in care homes and 19 at home or in non-institutional settings, while one was in another institution.