73-year-old S'porean man dies of Covid-19; 448 new cases in Singapore

[SINGAPORE] A 73-year-old male Singapore citizen died of Covid-19 complication on Thursday.

He was confirmed to have the virus on April 17 and had a history of hypertension, hyperlipidaemia and hypothyroidism.

The National Centre for Infectious Diseases (NCID) has contacted the family and is extending assistance.

There was also an uptick in new Covid-19 cases among Singaporeans and PRs confirmed in on Thursday, after seven cases were picked up from the Ministry of Health (MOH)'s active surveillance and screening of nursing home residents and pre-school staff.

A new cluster of 4 residents was identified at Orange Valley Nursing Home at 6 Simei Street 3. All four are aged between 72 and 97.

The Agency for Integrated Care (AIC) said that all four residents were tested as part of MOH's ongoing surveillance testing of all nursing home residents. As of Thursday, over 10,200 residents have been tested. Some 250 test results are still pending but so far, the four have been the only ones who have tested positive.

It added that all Orange Valley staff were tested in early May and all had tested negative. Staff members who come into contact with residents have all been staying at designated hotels since May 8 to minimise risk of picking up an infection.

After the four cases were detected, the close contacts of the four and the staff of Orange Valley were tested again. The staff tested negative again.

"Orange Valley (OV) has complied with enhanced precautionary measures in line with prevailing MOH advisories, such as disallowing visitors to the nursing home, strictly adhering to split-zone requirements and ensuring safe distancing. With the confirmed cases, OV has also thoroughly cleaned and disinfected the ward and affected areas of the nursing home, and will enhance the usage of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) among staff," the AIC said.

The Early Childhood Development Agency (ECDA) also said on Thursday that three of its pre-school staff members are among the new local cases and it expects more positive cases to be identified as it tests all workers ahead of a planned reopening of pre-schools from June 2.

The agency has directed that a two-week leave of absence be issued to a small group of children and staff recently in contact with the confirmed cases in the pre-schools, which will also be closed for two days for thorough cleaning and disinfection. Close contacts of the patients will be quarantined by MOH.

About 10,400 pre-school staff have already tested negative since the testing began on May 15. Testing is expected to complete by the end of the month.

Cases in the community made up 14 of the 448 total new cases.

The remaining cases in the community comprise 434 work permit holders living in dormitories.

Despite the increase in community cases, the number of coronavirus patients discharged has exceeded new patients in the past nine days.

A total of 910 Covid-19 patients were discharged from hospitals and community facilities on Thursday bringing the total discharged to 12, 108.

MOH also announced the closure of Natureland East Coast, Wing Fong Court and 112 Neythal Road clusters as they have not had more cases linked to them for 28 days, or two incubation periods.

The Orange Valley Nursing Home was the only new cluster announced on Thursday.

In all, 901 Covid-19 patients are still in hospital, with 10 in critical condition in the intensive care unit.

Twenty-three patients have died from Covid-19 complications and nine who tested positive have died from other causes.

Globally, the outbreak, which began in December last year, has infected more than 5.1 million people. Over 333,000 have died.

THE STRAITS TIMES