News

S’pore Reports 13th COVID-19 Death; Over 5K Migrant Workers to be Tested Due to Large Cluster in Dorm

2021-08-24 , 9:07 am

As of Sunday (22 Aug), 12 COVID-19 fatalities were recorded in August.

Given Singapore’s high recovery rate, this number was certainly unexpected, but contrary to what we believed, it wasn’t unprecedented.

Back in April last year, when we were recording over a thousand new cases every day, 12 COVID-19 patients succumbed to the virus as well.

But sadly, just a day after equalling this unwanted statistic, we surpassed it.

Woman Dies From COVID-19 Complications; Becomes 13th Fatality in August

An 86-year-old woman passed away from COVID-19 complications yesterday (23 Aug), making her the 13th fatality this month.

The woman had been admitted to Changi General Hospital (CGH) on 23 July for an unrelated medical condition, and tested negative for COVID-19 during admission and again on 29 July.

Her infection was only detected on 2 August, when she was tested after being identified as a close contact of a patient who was a confirmed case.

It’s unknown if the woman was linked to the CGH cluster, which was reported on 3 Aug and had four cases.

The woman had a history of cancer and hypertension, and was not vaccinated against COVID-19.

In total, 50 COVID-19 cases in Singapore have succumbed to the virus.

94 New Locally Transmitted Cases; 54 Linked to Dorm Cluster

For the last four days, we’ve had fewer than 40 new locally transmitted cases per day. So, it was certainly a shock when that number shot up to 94 yesterday.

But that’s because 59 infections were linked to a single cluster at the North Coast Lodge dormitory, at 51 N Coast Dr in Woodlands.

The Ministry of Health (MOH) began testing operations on 21 Aug after three residents at the dorm tested positive during their rostered routine testing.

Tests revealed that another 59 cases had been infected as well.

The dorm cluster, which was previously linked to an individual case, now has a total of 62 cases.

Of the remaining 35 locally transmitted cases, 19 are unlinked. There were also four imported cases, all of whom had already been placed on Stay-Home Notice (SHN) or isolated upon arrival in Singapore

Over 5,000 Migrant Workers to be Tested

Most of the confirmed cases at the North Coast Lodge are asymptomatic or have mild symptoms, but the authorities are taking no chances.

Over 5,000 migrant workers at the dorm will be tested for COVID-19; 2,200 workers have already been swabbed, while testing for the remaining 3,200 residents is ongoing.

“As a precautionary measure, all residents at the dormitory have been placed on Movement Restriction Order,” MOH said.

336 Cases in Hospital

At the moment, 336 COVID-19 cases are warded in hospital, most of whom are well and under observation.

21 severe cases currently require oxygen supplementation, while seven are in critical condition in the intensive care unit.

Of these 29 cases, 22 are patients above 60. Four of them are fully vaccinated.

As of Sunday (22 Aug), 78% of our population has been fully vaccinated, with 82% having received at least one dose.