Two Singaporeans aged 86 and 95 die from Covid-19 complications

[SINGAPORE] A partially vaccinated 86-year-old man and an unvaccinated 95-year-old woman have died from Covid-19 complications, said the Ministry of Health (MOH) on Wednesday night (Aug 25).

The man, who died on Tuesday, tested positive for Covid-19 infection on July 28.

He was admitted to Tan Tock Seng Hospital for an unrelated medical condition on July 1 and tested negative for the coronavirus multiple times.

MOH, in its daily Covid-19 update, said he had a history of cancer, high blood pressure, chronic kidney disease, heart disease, and hyperlipidaemia or high levels of cholesterol.

The woman, who died on Wednesday, developed symptoms on Aug 5 and tested positive for the virus on Aug 9 after being admitted to the National Centre for Infectious Diseases. She had a history of Alzheimer's Disease.

With these two deaths, 15 people have died in August from issues linked to Covid-19 infection and Singapore's total death toll stands at 52.

There were a total of 118 new locally transmitted Covid-19 cases on Wednesday.

Of these, 26 are linked to the North Coast Lodge dormitory cluster, which has a total of 112 infections.

Of the remaining 92 cases, 19 are linked to previous cases and had already been quarantined. Another 44 are linked to previous cases and were detected through surveillance, and 29 cases are currently unlinked.

There were also two imported cases who had already been placed on stay-home notice or isolated on arrival in Singapore.

Among the 120 new cases are two seniors aged above 70 who are unvaccinated or only partially vaccinated. MOH said they are at risk of serious illness.

There are currently 350 cases hospitalised, 19 of whom have serious illness requiring oxygen supplementation. Seven are in critical condition in the intensive care unit.

Of those who have fallen very ill, 21 are seniors above 60, 17 of whom are completely unvaccinated or partially vaccinated.

Overall, the number of new cases in the community has decreased from 316 cases in the week before to 335 cases in the past week. The number of unlinked cases in the community has increased from 81 cases in the week before to 131 cases in the past week.

As at Monday, 78 per cent of the population have been fully vaccinated, while 82 per cent have received at least one dose.

THE STRAITS TIMES