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S’pore Reports 2 COVID-19 Deaths in a Day: Both Are Not Fully Vaccinated

2021-08-23 , 9:55 am

To our joy and relief, multiple COVID-19 measures have been relaxed recently, but August has been a horrid month in other respects.

This month has seen the highest number of deaths in a single month since the pandemic began, with 10 COVID-19 fatalities as of Friday (20 Aug).

Since then, however, two more people have died.

Two COVID-19 Deaths Reported Over Weekend

A 91-year-old woman and an 87-year-old man died of COVID-19 complications over the weekend, taking our death toll in August to 12.

The 91-year-old developed symptoms on 30 July and was admitted to the National Centre for Infectious Diseases after testing positive for the coronavirus. She was reported as a case on 3 Aug.

Sadly, she ended up succumbing to the disease on Saturday (21 Aug).

She had a history of chronic kidney disease, heart disease, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, and hyperparathyroidism.

She had not been vaccinated against COVID-19.

The 87-year-old man was taken to the National University Hospital for an unrelated medical condition on 4 Aug and was later tested for COVID-19 as he exhibited symptoms.

The man died of coronavirus complications on Sunday (22 Aug).

He had a history of advanced cancer, diabetes mellitus, hypertension, and hyperlipidaemia.

He was partially vaccinated against COVID-19.

29 Locally Transmitted Cases; More Than Half Unlinked

Once again it’s not the total number of new local cases that’s alarming, but how many of them have no established links to previous cases.

29 new locally transmitted cases were reported yesterday, of whom 17 are unlinked.

In addition, there were six imported cases, five of whom tested positive on arrival, while the other one developed the illness during quarantine.

Two New Clusters

Two new clusters were reported by the Ministry of Health (MOH) yesterday, both of which were linked to individual cases.

Named after Case 68669 and Case 68799, both clusters have three infections each.

Six more clusters have been closed, meaning we now have 72 active clusters across the country, with infections ranging between 3 and 1,155.

346 Cases in Hospitals; 7 in ICU

At the moment, there are 346 COVID-19 cases in hospitals, most of whom are well and under observation.

22 severe cases require oxygen supplementation and seven are in critical condition in the intensive care unit.

Of these 29 cases, 23 were patients above 60. 18 of them were partially vaccinated or completely unvaccinated.

As of Saturday, 78% of our population has been fully vaccinated, while 82% have received at least one dose.

Delta Variant to Blame For Deaths?

Experts speaking to The Straits Times believe that the Delta variant is to blame for the recent spike in our death toll.

With our already high vaccination rate constantly rising, some may wonder why we still have a large number of COVID-19 deaths.

Not only does the Delta variant spread more easily, but those infected also have much higher viral loads.

This is why Associate Professor Alex Cook, vice-dean of research at the Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health, believes that thousands of people would have died if we had to deal with the Delta variant before vaccines arrived on our shores.

As MOH once again reiterated, the evidence shows that vaccination prevents serious disease against COVID-19.

Watch this video to the end to understand more about COVID-19 variants: