The latest figures from the National Records of Scotland show that two more people have died from COVID-19 in the most recent week of reporting.

The statistics cover the week from July 5-11 and show that one person in North Ayrshire died where the virus was mentioned on their death certificate and one person also died in South Ayrshire.

The week before that, all Ayrshire areas recorded one death each.

Nationwide, the weekly death toll increased by eight, with 30 people repoted to have died in the past week from COVID-19.

10,220 deaths have now been registered in Scotland where the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) was mentioned on the death certificate.

Pete Whitehouse, Director of Statistical Services, said: “Five of the COVID-related deaths last week were aged under 65, four were aged 65-74 and there were 21 deaths amongst people aged 75 or over. Nine were female and 21 were male. 

"After adjusting for age, COVID-related death rates for males are significantly higher than for females. In the period from March 2020 to June 2021, COVID-19 was mentioned on the death certificates of 176 males per 100,000 population compared to 121 females per 100,000.

"There have been four deaths where the underlying cause was adverse effects of COVID-19 vaccines. There have been no vaccine-related deaths in the latest month. By June 30, 2021 statistics from Public Health Scotland state that 3.82 million people had been given at least one vaccine dose.”

In the last week the total number of deaths from all causes was six per cent higher than the average for week 27 in the period 2015-2019. At the height of the pandemic in April 2020, there were around 80 per cent more deaths than average.

93 per cent of COVID-related deaths between March 2020 and June 2021 had at least one pre-existing medical condition, with the most common being dementia or Alzheimer’s disease.