Singapore: Three virus deaths in past 5 days, 98 fresh cases surface on Thursday

A 79-year-old man, not vaccinated, died from virus complications, taking Singapore's death toll from the virus to 40, reported Channel News Asia, citing a Ministry of Health (MOH) statement. The man had a history of heart disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and hypertension. He died on Wednesday. On Monday, a 58-year-old woman, also unvaccinated, died. On Sunday, a 34-year-old Ukrainian sailor, who arrived in Singapore on board a vessel on July 28, succumbed to Covid complications. 

Ten new COVID-19 clusters were reported on Thursday, bringing the number of active clusters in Singapore to 122, including a ward at Changi General Hospital, according to media reports. “With proactive and regular testing in the hospital, we have detected three cases of COVID-19 in a ward,” the hospital said in a Facebook post. Meanwhile, non-patient visits have been banned to all hospital wards from Thursday as an interim measure to reduce potential COVID-19 transmission in hospitals. This comes after more COVID-19 community (local) cases were detected recently, which include staff members and patients of hospitals, the MOH had announced on Wednesday. The interim measure banning visitors will not apply to certain groups of patients, such as those who are very ill, paediatric patients, birthing or post-partum mothers as well as those requiring additional care.

The MOH said there are 577 hospitalised cases, up from 555 on Wednesday. Of these, 40 are serious, requiring oxygen supplementation, while eight are in critical condition in intensive care units. It added that 65 per cent of Singapore’s 5.9 million population is fully vaccinated while 78 per cent has received at least one dose.