Scotland’s coronavirus death rate is one of the worst in the world - even more deadly than in some of the worst hit countries, according to new analysis.

Jamie Jenkins, former head of analysis for the Office for National Statistics, told The Times the situation in Scotland was particularly acute.

The analysis is based on the number of excess deaths, which exceed those expected in normal circumstances - and has been the primary indicator of coronavirus deaths in countries.

The paper reveals since the start of the COVID-19 outbreak in Scotland has there have been 4,694 excess deaths, resulting in an excess deaths rate of 861 cases per million.

This has only been slightly lower than the UK average of 891 per one million of population.

Jenkins told The Times: “Excess deaths in Scotland have been falling in recent weeks, but since the start of the pandemic are approaching 4,700.

"This is around 861 excess deaths per one million, and while this is lower than the UK average, it is still higher than Italy, where the pandemic first struck in Europe."

Scotland's excess death rate is said to be higher than many other countries that have been hit badly by the deadly virus, including Italy and the United States.


In Italy the number is 777 per million, while in the United States, where more than 100,000 coronavirus fatalities have been recorded, the number of excess deaths is around 200 per million.

There were 18 new confirmed cases of coronavirus in Scotland when the latest official figures were released yesterday, taking the total number to 15,418.

As of yesterday official figures suggested that 2,363 with confirmed cases of the virus have died, though nearly 4,000 deaths have been registered in Scotland with COVID-19 mentioned on the death certificate.