Coronavirus: Higher rate of cases 'in the poorest areas'
Coronavirus in Scotland: Death rate twice as high in poorest areas
(about 3 hours later)
People living in the poorest parts of Scotland have a higher rate of confirmed cases of coronavirus, new figures show.
People in the most-deprived areas of Scotland are 2.3 times more likely to die with Covid-19 than those in the least deprived areas, new data reveals.
The NHS data reveals 22.7% of confirmed infections come from those in the 20% most deprived areas.
The latest weekly figures from the National Record of Scotland show additional analysis of the impact of deprivation on mortality.
The most affluent 20% of Scottish areas account for just 18.8% of the cases.
It shows that the death rate among people living in the 20% most-deprived areas is 86.5 per 100,000.
Separate data shows those in the poorest areas account for twice as many Covid-19 calls to NHS24 than the wealthiest.
In the least deprived 20% of Scottish areas the figures is just 38.2.
Other official figures show coronavirus death rates are worse in the poorest areas of Scotland as well.
The difference in coronavirus death rates between the least and most affluent is even higher than the figure for deaths from all causes, which the NRS puts at 1.9 times as much.
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has pledged to help the most vulnerable in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, with a £350m Scottish government fund in place to help those most affected.
The National Records of Scotland figures have previously shown that Inverclyde, which includes Greenock and Port Glasgow, among the most-deprived areas of Scotland, had the highest death rate of any council area from Covid-19. It has now had 103 deaths in a population of 78,000.
Jim McCormick, associate director for Scotland at the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, said: "It can never be right that someone's life chances are so profoundly affected by where they live or how much money their family has.
The latest NRS analysis shows that men in the most-deprived areas are even more badly affected. The death rate for men is 109.2 per 100,000 compared with 43.2 in the least deprived areas. For women the figure is 70.2 per 100,000 in the most-deprived and 32.9 in the least deprived.
"It's crucial that all aspects of the spread of this virus are carefully examined, but we know that people in areas with higher deprivation scores are less likely to have jobs where they can work from home.
The analysis also looked at urban and rural areas, showing a large difference in Covid-19 death rates.
"This means they may have to face a very significant drop in income or keep going to work, facing greater risks of catching the virus. They are also more likely to live in overcrowded homes, increasing the risk for whole families. "
In large urban areas the death rate from Covid-19 was 76.8 per 100,000 people whereas in remote rural areas it was 17.9.
The Scotland-wide deprivation figures are in a paper from Prof Alison McCallum, director of public health at NHS Lothian, for its latest board meeting later.
The paper carries two graphs from the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD) - a poverty measure which covers seven criteria including income and health - that show Covid-19's impact.
The graphs split Scotland into five sections depending on their levels of deprivation.
One shows that people in the most deprived fifth made 28% of the calls to NHS 24 about coronavirus, compared with 14% of those in the least deprived areas.
'Test, trace and isolate'
Prof McCallum pointed out that many of the callers would not have been tested.
She added: "Without widespread implementation of test, trace, isolate and support, therefore, while this reflects the expected pattern of symptoms in the community it is not clear whether this will be the pattern of true positives that persists throughout the pandemic."
Separate figures in the NHS Lothian paper show just under 23% of confirmed cases live in the area with the highest levels of deprivation, compared with 18.8% in the most affluent.
