Ayrshire has seen its highest weekly death total for 21 weeks, according to today's statistics published by the National Records of Scotland (NRS).

There were four deaths recorded where Covid-19 was mentioned on the death certificate, the highest weekly total since the week beginning April 12.

It takes the total Covid death tally in Ayrshire to 947.

The latest data covers the period from September 6-12.

Two of the deaths were recorded in North Ayrshire and the other two were from South Ayrshire.

As of September 12, 10,688 deaths have been registered in Scotland where the novel coronavirus was mentioned on the death certificate.

The director of statistical services at NRS has said that the majority of people (over 90 per cent) who have died from Covid had a pre-existing condition such as dementia or Alzheimer's.

In the week September 6-12, 76 deaths were registered that mentioned COVID-19 on the death certificate, an increase of 18 deaths from the previous week.

12 people who died were aged under 65, 13 were of people aged 65-74 and 51 were over 75. 48 people who died were male and 28 were female.

There were eight deaths in both Glasgow City and in North Lanarkshire, seven deaths in South Lanarkshire, six deaths in Dundee City, and five deaths in City of Edinburgh. In total, 26 council areas had at least one death involving COVID-19 last week.

Pete Whitehouse, Director of Statistical Services, said: “Today’s NRS figures show that there were 76 deaths in Scotland last week where COVID-19 was mentioned on the death certificate, an increase of 18 deaths on the previous week.”

“Between March 2020 and August 2021, 93 per cent of people who died with COVID had at least one pre-existing condition, the most common condition being dementia or Alzheimer’s disease."