84-year-old S'porean woman is 12th person to die from Covid-19; 1,016 new cases

[SINGAPORE] An 84-year-old Singaporean woman has become the 12th person to die from complications due to the coronavirus, even as the number patients with the infection here crossed the 10,000 mark on Wednesday (April 22).

The 84-year-old woman died on Tuesday night and was confirmed to have the virus on April 2. Khoo Teck Puat Hospital has contacted her family and is assisting them, the Ministry of Health (MOH) said in a daily update on Wednesday.

Foreign workers living in dormitories also made up 967 of the 1,016 new coronavirus cases announced by MOH on Wednesday.

Among the new cases announced, 17 are Singaporeans and permanent residents.

The other new patients are 32 work permit holders who did not stay in dormitories. There are also no imported cases.

MOH also announced eight new clusters.

Singapore's largest active cluster remains S11 Dormitory in Punggol, which has confirmed 2, 211 cases.

Wednesday's latest figures bring the total number of coronavirus cases in Singapore to 10,141.

MOH said that the number of new cases in the community has decreased, from an average of 36 cases per day in the week before, to an average of 25 per day in the past week.

The number of unlinked cases in the community has decreased as well, from an average of 21 cases per day in the week before, to an average of 17 per day in the past week.

"We will continue to closely monitor these numbers, as well as the cases detected through our surveillance programme," the ministry added.

Meanwhile, the number of new cases among work permit holders residing outside dormitories has continued to rise, from an average of 14 cases per day in the week before, to an average of 30 per day in the past week.

MOH also announced on Wednesday that 57 more coronavirus patients have been discharged from hospitals or community isolation facilities. This means 896 people have fully recovered from the infection and have been discharged.

Of the 4,234 patients who are still in hospital, most are stable or improving, but 25 are in critical condition in the intensive care unit.

Another 4,999 patients who are clinically well but still test positive for Covid-19 are isolated and cared for at community facilities.

The Agency for Integrated Care (AIC)  said on Tuesday that two coronavirus patients confirmed in the past two days are from nursing homes.

One of them is a 40-year-old healthcare assistant at Sunshine Welfare Action Mission (Swani) Home at 5 Sembawang Walk. She was confirmed to have Covid-19 infection on Monday.

She was warded in an isolation room at Khoo Teck Puat Hospital and was last at work on Sunday.

The second patient is an 86-year-old resident from Kwong Wai Shiu Hospital at 705 Serangoon Road.

She was confirmed to have Covid-19 infection on Tuesday. The resident was warded in an isolation room at Tan Tock Seng Hospital.

THE STRAITS TIMES

For the latest numbers on the global coronavirus situation, go to bt.sg/ncov