The number of coronavirus deaths fell to the lowest level since October last week, according to latest figures.
National Records of Scotland (NRS) figures data shows that between March 8 and 14, 104 deaths were registered that mentioned Covid-19 on the death certificate.
This was a decrease of 38 deaths from the previous week, and was the seventh consecutive week that the numbers have fallen.
It is the lowest number of weekly deaths since the week of October 19 to 25 when 107 were registered.
As of March 14, there have been 9,831 deaths registered in Scotland where Covid-19 was mentioned on the death certificate.
Pete Whitehouse, NRS Director of Statistical Services, said: “Over the last year, Covid-19 has had a devastating impact on communities across the country, my heartfelt sympathies go out to all those who have lost someone to this virus.
“The latest statistics show that for the seventh consecutive week, we have seen a welcome reduction in the number of deaths. This is the lowest number of weekly deaths since the week of October 19-25.
READ MORE: Today's coronavirus stats from the Scottish Government
“We also published monthly statistics reporting on mortality by deprivation, occupation and pre-existing health conditions.
“Between March 2020 and February 2021, 93% of those who died had at least one pre-existing condition. The most common, main pre-existing condition was dementia and Alzheimer’s, accounting for 25% of all deaths involving Covid-19.”
The data also showed that since week three this year, that of January 18-24, deaths have decreased more in older age groups.
Since that week, deaths have fallen in all age groups, but the largest falls have occurred in the 85 and over (down 81%) and 75-84 age groups (down 77%).
Of deaths involving Covid-19 in the latest week, almost two thirds (64%) were aged 75 and over (67 deaths), and 20% were aged under 65 (21 deaths).
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At council level, the highest number of deaths occurred in North Lanarkshire (13), Glasgow City (10) and South Lanarkshire (9).
The NRS figures differ from the lab-confirmed coronavirus deaths announced daily by the Scottish Government using Health Protection Scotland data because the former includes suspected or probable cases of Covid-19.
In the week of March 8-14, statistics showed that 83% of deaths occurred in hospital (86), while 14 occurred in care homes and four at home or in non-institutional settings.
Deaths from all causes are below average for this time of year and this week there were 90 fewer deaths when compared with the five-year average.
This is the first time since October that deaths have been below average, apart from the week of January 11–17 when the statistics were affected by the Christmas holiday period.
According to the monthly analysis of deaths occurring between March 2020 and February 2021, after adjusting for age, people living in the most deprived areas were 2.3 times as likely to die with Covid-19 as those in the least deprived areas.
The size of this gap has ranged between 2.1 and 2.3 over the period of the pandemic.
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