Earlier this month, Health Minister Ong Ye Kung said that as Singapore opens up and shift towards living with an endemic COVID-19, more people will get infected.
Since more unvaccinated people will become infected, the number of severe cases will rise, and so will the death toll.
Sadly, we’ve seen evidence of this in August alone.
84YO Man Becomes 7th COVID-19 Fatality in August
An 84-year-old man became Singapore’s seventh COVID-19 fatality in August after he passed away from complications yesterday (13 Aug).
The man developed symptoms on 28 July, and was admitted to National University Hospital the next day where he tested positive for COVID-19.
He had a history of cancer, ischaemic heart disease, diabetes mellitus, hypertension, and hyperlipidemia.
He was not vaccinated against COVID-19.
The man’s passing brings Singapore’s COVID-19 death toll to 44.
45 Locally Transmitted Cases
The good news is that the number of COVID-19 infections is continuing to fall.
45 locally transmitted cases were reported yesterday, our lowest daily local case count since 15 Jul.
13 of them were unlinked.
There were also four imported cases reported, all of whom had been placed on stay-home notice or isolated upon arrival in Singapore.
Two were detected upon arrival, while the other two tested positive during their stay-home notice or isolation period.
Three New Clusters; Preschool Cluster Grows
Three new clusters were identified by the Ministry of Health (MOH), all of which were linked to individual cases, ranging from three to five infections.
No further specifics were provided by the health ministry on these clusters.
Two existing preschool clusters grew yesterday, with one more case added to the Superland Pre-School (Kreta Ayer Community Centre) cluster and five added to the My First Skool (54 Chin Swee Road) cluster.
Both clusters now have 11 cases.
Before MOH provided its update, NTUC First Campus said in a statement that the infected cases in its cluster included six children and one employee.
All seven were last at the school between 5 Aug to 11 Aug.
Deep cleaning is now being conducted at the centre, which will resume operations on 25 Aug.
All children and employees will be tested for COVID-19 and close contacts will be placed on quarantine orders, while those who were present when the confirmed cases attended the pre-school will be issued with a leave of absence.
Six existing clusters were closed, MOH said, taking the total number of active clusters to 116.
The Jurong Fishery Port/ Hong Lim Market & Food Centre remains our biggest cluster with 1,151 infections, but no new cases have been linked to it for the past two days.
488 Cases in Hospital; 10 in ICU
At the moment, there are 488 cases in the hospital, most of whom are well and under observation.
30 severe cases require oxygen supplementation and ten are in critical condition in the intensive care unit; seven of the 40 cases are fully vaccinated.
34 of them are above 60 and have fallen very ill. 27 of them are either partially vaccinated or unvaccinated.
The percentage of unvaccinated COVID-19 patients who have become severely ill or died over the last 28 days is 9.6%, compared to 1% for those fully vaccinated.
Vaccination Progress: 74%
With regard to vaccinations, we’re getting closer and closer to that 80% target that we hope to achieve before opening up further.
74% of the population have completed their vaccination regimen, with 81% at least partially vaccinated.
This includes 82,951 people who received 142,966 doses of other vaccines recognised in the World Health Organization’s Emergency Use Listing.
Short-term Pass Holders to Be Offered Vaccinations
Yesterday, MOH said it would offer vaccinations to short-term pass holders who have been in the country for “long periods of time”.
This is because the vast majority of citizens, PRs, and long-term pass holders have already been vaccinated, it said.
If eligible, short-term pass holders will be notified through SMS progressively. The ministry did not specify how long one had to be in the country to qualify for the programme.
Watch this video to the end to learn the importance of vaccinations:
Read Also:
- Unvaccinated School Staff Must Undergo Regular COVID-19 Tests from 1 Oct
- RVHS 16YO Student Spoke to His Parents For the First Time Ever Since He was Remanded
Featured Image: Google Maps
Would you be jailed for being half-naked in public? Well, the answer will shock you. Seriously. Watch this to the end and you'll understand:
