Coronavirus death toll in Borders up one to 39 but overall fatalities linked to disease rise by three to 71

Another coronavirus patient in the Borders has died, taking the death toll claimed here by the disease to 39.
Nicola Sturgeon at the Scottish Parliament yesterday. (Photo by Fraser Bremner/pool/Getty Images)Nicola Sturgeon at the Scottish Parliament yesterday. (Photo by Fraser Bremner/pool/Getty Images)
Nicola Sturgeon at the Scottish Parliament yesterday. (Photo by Fraser Bremner/pool/Getty Images)

That’s the first death among sufferers previously confirmed to have Covid-19 to be reported since Tuesday, June 2.

According to figures issued by the National Records of Scotland yesterday, taking into account all fatalities linked to coronavirus and not just among those previously tested and found to be infected, the death toll it’s claimed in the Borders is 71 as of Sunday, however.

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That’s up three from 68 a week ago on Sunday and 33 higher than the Scottish Government daily figure of 38 at that time.

No up-to-date figure is available for the number of Borderers to have tested positive for the disease since the first cases here were announced on March 11, but an update is expected today.

The total number of cases diagnosed in the region as of last Friday, though, was 327.

At present, no one confirmed to have Covid-19 is being treated at any of the Borders’ hospitals but 19 patients suspected to be infected but awaiting test results are being cared for.

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To date, 79 patients diagnosed as coronavirus sufferers have recovered sufficiently to be discharged from hospital.

Since March 18, 1,073 NHS Borders workers have been tested for coronavirus, with 145 returning positive results and 928 of them being given the all-clear.

The number of cases of coronavirus across Scotland is now up to 18,066 after a rise of 21 overnight.

The death toll claimed by the disease nationwide among those confirmed to have been infected was up nine yesterday to 2,462.

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Giving an update to the Scottish Parliament yesterday, first minister Nicola Sturgeon reported: “In the past 24 hours, nine deaths of patients confirmed as having the virus have been registered, which takes the total number of deaths in Scotland under that measurement to 2,462.

“However, today’s National Records of Scotland report shows that, by Sunday, the total number of registered deaths with either a confirmed or a presumed link to the virus was 4,070.

“Of those, 70 were registered in the seven days up to Sunday, a decrease of 19 from the week before.

“This is the seventh week in a row in which the number of deaths from the virus has fallen. The total number of excess deaths, the number above the five-year average for the same time of year, also decreased again, to 32 in the most recent week.

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“All those figures are still higher than I would ever wish them to be, and I know that downward trends will never console those who have lost loved ones. However, the weekly number of Covid deaths has now fallen for seven weeks in a row, and they are now at less than a ninth of their peak level.”