3 More COVID-19 Deaths Reported in a Day; 2 Had Limited Movement Outside Their House

It’s a sad fact that older people are far more likely to fall severely ill if infected with COVID-19.

And if this is coupled with a lack of immunisation, it could prove fatal.

We’ve unfortunately seen enough evidence of that in August already, but the death toll is still rising.

Yesterday, three deaths were reported.

3 Seniors Over 70 Die From COVID-19 Complications

The three seniors were two women, aged 70 and 90, and an 80-year-old man. All three were not vaccinated against the coronavirus.

The 90-year-old woman was conveyed to Khoo Teck Puat Hospital for an unrelated medical condition on 18 August, and tested positive for COVID-19 infection the next day. She had a history of cancer, heart disease, hypertension, and hyperlipidaemia. She succumbed to the disease on Thursday (26 Aug).

The 80-year-old man was admitted to Ng Teng Fong General Hospital on 7 Aug after testing positive on the same day. He has no known underlying medical conditions. He died from COVID-19 complications on Thursday as well.

The 70-year-old woman was admitted to Khoo Teck Puat Hospital on 11 Aug for an unrelated medical condition. There, she initially tested negative for COVID-19 when admitted, but later tested positive when another test was taken on 17 Aug.

She had a history of diabetes mellitus, ischaemic heart disease, end-stage renal failure, hypertension, and hyperlipidaemia. She passed away from COVID-19 complications yesterday (27 Aug).

The Ministry of Health (MOH) said that the two women who passed away were “non-ambulatory and had limited movement outside of their homes, but yet had been infected as unlinked cases”.

The three deaths bring August’s total to 18 now. In total, 55 COVID-19 cases here have died from the virus.

120 New Locally Transmitted Cases

120 new locally transmitted cases were reported yesterday, 26 of whom are unlinked.

There were also two imported cases, both of whom were detected upon arrival here.

Two New Clusters Linked to Dorm and Bus Interchange

Two new clusters were reported by the health ministry, one linked to a migrants workers’ dormitory and another to the staff at a bus interchange.

The first, Tuas South Lodge, now has four cases, with the addition of two new infections.

The other cluster is linked to staff at Clementi bus interchange, with a total of 7 infections.

Exiting Clusters Grow

With over a hundred new local cases, several existing clusters were bound to grow as well.

The Bugis Junction cluster, the mall everyone’s avoiding now, had 47 more infections linked to it, bringing its total to 151.

In addition:

• Five cases were added to the Toa Payoh bus interchange staff cluster, which now has 29 cases
• Four were linked to the Punggol bus interchange staff, bringing its total to 17
• Three more infections were linked to Selarang Halfway House, which now has 27 cases.
• The North Coast Lodge cluster now has a total of 130 infections, with four more cases added to it yesterday

One more infection was also linked to the Case 68669 cluster, which now has four cases.

369 Cases in Hospitals; 6 in ICU

At the moment, there are 369 cases currently warded in hospital, most of whom are well and under observation.

13 severe cases require oxygen supplementation, and six are in critical condition in the intensive care unit.

Most of these 19 patients are above the age of 60, and are either partially vaccinated or completely unvaccinated.

At the moment, 79% of the population is fully vaccinated, with 83% having received at least one dose.

All Households to Receive 6 ART Kits

Good news for those who are cautious about spreading and contracting COVID-19 but hate spending money: all households will be getting six DIY antigen rapid test (ART) kits.

The distribution will take place from 28 Aug to 27 Sep via Singpost.

In addition, three ART kits each will also be given to all students and employees of educational institutions.

This includes pre-schools, Ministry of Education (MOE) Kindergartens, early intervention centres, primary schools, and special education schools (primary and junior sections).

Learn more about these ART Kits here:

Read Also: 

• All Households Will Receive 6 Free COVID-19 ART Self-Test Kits by Mail from Tomorrow (28 Aug)
• Yale-NUS College Will Stop Accepting New Students to Make Way for a New College

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