Scores of people have been getting hitched in East Renfrewshire in a bid to beat the lockdown blues.

A total of 52 couples tied the knot during the last three months of 2020, despite a return to tough lockdown restrictions.

This represent a massive 62% increase on the previous three months.

The wedding figures for October to December were also the highest for any three-month period in 2020.

Between January and March last year, before the UK first went into lockdown, a total of 40 marriages were registered with East Renfrewshire Council.

That dropped to just two between April and June as lockdown restrictions began to bite.

Between July and September, 32 couples took the plunge as the restrictions were eased or lifted.

Ceremonies have only been able to take place on a restricted basis since late June.

The figures from National Records of Scotland (NRS) also show there were 797 births in East Renfrewshire last year.

During the same period, a total of 1,037 deaths were recorded, including 165 that were as a direct result of Covid-19.

The highest number of fatalities registered in East Renfrewshire took place between April and June, as the pandemic continued to spread, with 311 deaths recorded.

Across Scotland, there were 6,626 deaths between October and December – almost 13% more than the normal average for that time of year.

Covid was the underlying cause of 2,093 of these deaths.

Julie Ramsay, of NRS, said: “After the significantly high number of deaths we saw in April to June last year, the number then returned to broadly average levels in July to September.

“As the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic developed, deaths increased again in October to December.”