Unvaccinated 84-year-old Singaporean dies from Covid-19

[SINGAPORE]

AN UNVACCINATED 84-year-old Singaporean died from complications due to Covid-19 on Friday.

The man developed symptoms on July 28 and was admitted to National University Hospital the next day, when he tested positive for the coronavirus. He had a history of cancer, heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol, the Ministry of Health (MOH) said on Friday night in its daily update.

This brings the total number of Covid-19 deaths in Singapore to 44.

Five new cases were added to the My First Skool cluster at 54 Chin Swee Road, which now has 11 cases linked to it.

MOH also announced three new clusters linked to confirmed Covid-19 cases, each with three to five infections.

Singapore recorded 45 new locally transmitted coronavirus cases on Friday - the lowest daily number of such cases reported since July 15, when there were 42 locally transmitted cases. Of the locally transmitted cases, 13 are currently unlinked.

There were four imported cases that were detected and isolated upon arrival here, bringing Singapore's total to 66,061.

The number of new cases in the community fell from 671 cases in the week before to 380 cases in the past week; the number of unlinked cases dropped from 191 to 108 cases over the same period.

Currently, 488 patients are hospitalised. There are 30 people who require oxygen supplementation, and 10 are in critical condition in the intensive care unit (ICU). Seven of these 40 cases are fully vaccinated.

Of those who have fallen very ill, 34 are seniors aged above 60. Of these, 27 are completely unvaccinated or partially vaccinated.

As of Thursday, a total of 8,286,283 doses of Covid-19 vaccines had been administered under the national vaccination programme, covering 4,402,608 individuals, with 4,011,715 people having completed the full vaccination regimen.

In addition, 142,966 doses of other vaccines recognised in the World Health Organisation's Emergency Use Listing have been administered, covering 82,951 individuals.

In total, 74 per cent of Singapore residents have received two doses of the vaccines, and 81 per cent have received at least one dose.

THE STRAITS TIMES