More care home deaths in Falkirk area

Latest statistics show that the deaths of a further 17 people in the Falkirk Council area this week have been linked to Covid-19.

It brings to 103 the number who have now died since the pandemic began.

There have been 52 deaths in care homes, 41 in hospital and ten at home.

Across Forth Valley there have now been 187 Covid-19 deaths, a rise of 31 in the past week.

As well as the 103 in Falkirk, there have been 49 in Stirling and 35 in Clackmannanshire.

In Scotland there have now been 3213 deaths linked to coronavirus.

Updated figures from the Scottish Government show that there have only been three new cases reported in Forth Valley in the last 24 hour period with the figure now standing at 859.

There are 25 people in hospital, one fewer than on Tuesday and less than five of these being treated in Forth Valley Royal Hospital’s intensive care unit. The figure is not released if it is below five.

A total of 77,750 people in Scotland have been tested through NHS labs to date. Of these, 63,821 were confirmed negative and

13,929 were positive.

This means around 17.9 per cent of cases were positive. Last week the figure was around 25 per cent.

NHS Forth Valley has said it can carry out around 200 tests daily at its centres in the grounds of Falkirk Community Hospital, Bowhouse Community Centre in Grangemouth and Stirling Health and Care Centre.

It is also able to analyse the results in the laboratories at Forth Valley Royal Hospital in Larbert rather than sending them to Glasgow giving a quicker turnaround in results.