There has been a slight drop in the number of Covid admissions to hospitals according to provisional figures released by Public Health Scotland on 28th of September 2023, to 222 down from 229.

The number of patients in hospital with Covid has also dropped to 301 from 367.

The testing of waste water samples in Scotland for fragments of coronavirus’ ribonucleic acid (RNA) continues to show positive results. Although there is very little testing being done for Covid this is one of the few ways we now have to detect the virus within the local community. The last recorded results published for Orkney was on 7th of September.

Vaccinations

A total of 340,097 Influenza (Adult 18+), 52,881 Influenza (Children 6 months to 17 years) and 176, 691 COVID-19 vaccines have been administered to the Scottish population since 04 September 2023.

Deaths

The National Records of Scotland has also published its figures for weekly deaths.

The provisional total number of deaths registered in Scotland in week 38 of 2023 (18th September to 24th September) was 1,116 (57 or 5% above the 5-year average).  There were 30 deaths mentioning COVID-19.

Those figures in more detail

Deaths involving Covid:

• Age 45 – 64: 1 death, female
• Age 65 – 74: 4 deaths, 2 female, 2 male
• Age 75 – 84: 8 deaths, male
• Age 85+ : 17 deaths, 9 female, 8 male

Of the 30 deaths involving Covid, Covid was the underlying cause in 23 of them.

Three deaths were in Care Homes, 3 at Home/Non-institutional setting, and 24 in Hospital.

There were 1,116 deaths due to all causes, an excess of 57 taken over a 5 year average.

There were excess deaths in Dementia/Alzheimer’s +8 ; Circulatory +26 and Other Causes +44.

Fiona Grahame