News

S’pore Reports 56th COVID-19 Death: an Unvaccinated 93 YO Woman

2021-09-09 , 9:20 am

It’s a sad fact of the pandemic that when there’s a spike in cases, the number of patients who require intensive care will increase.

This is especially so if the patient is in an older age group and unvaccinated.

We saw evidence of this in August when 18 COVID-19 cases succumbed to the virus. Most were completely unvaccinated and had underlying medical conditions.

We’ve not had any deaths since 28 Aug, but yesterday, the Ministry of Health (MOH) reported the first COVID-19 fatality of September.

93YO Woman Dies of COVID-19 Complications

A 93-year-old Singaporean woman died of COVID-19 complications yesterday (8 Sep), making her Singapore’s 56th coronavirus fatality.

She developed symptoms on 2 Sep and was brought to the National Centre for Infectious Diseases three days later, where she tested positive for COVID-19.

The woman had a history of diabetes mellitus, chronic kidney disease, hypertension, and hyperlipidemia, and was not vaccinated against COVID-19.

347 Locally Transmitted Cases; 329 From the Community

347 locally transmitted cases were reported yesterday, 18 of whom were detected in migrant workers’ dormitories.

The remaining 329 cases were from the community, which is our highest number of new community cases since the virus emerged.

In addition, two imported cases were reported; one was detected upon arrival and the other developed the illness during quarantine.

New Format for MOH Report

Just as our COVID-19 situation is constantly changing, so is MOH’s daily COVID-19 report.

From tomorrow (9 Sep), it will only provide one update a day, instead of the current two updates daily.

MOH said it will no longer include the number of linked and unliked cases in the report, explaining that these numbers are no longer as relevant as before “given our current strategy of living with COVID-19”.

As Health Minister Ong Ye Kung explained last week, the ministry is no longer chasing down every single case, which means “unlinked numbers are also not as relevant as before.”

MOH reassured the public that it is still closely tracking the number of cases hospitalised with severe illness and in the intensive care unit, to ensure that our hospital capacity is not overwhelmed.

As for the report, it will continue to provide information on “large emerging” clusters only, so that the public can avoid certain places, or “regulate their own activities”.

Bus Interchange Clusters Grow

Fortunately, in yesterday’s report, no new large emerging clusters were detected. Five clusters linked to staff working at bus interchanges did grow, though.

They are:

Toa Payoh Bus Interchange staff – seven new cases, 183 in total
Bishan Bus Interchange staff – one new case, 35 in total
Clementi Bus Interchange staff – one new case, 48 in total
Tampines Bus Interchange staff – two new cases, 44 in total
Boon Lay Bus Interchange staff – eight new cases, 145 in total

Four cases each were added to the Bugis Junction cluster and the Changi General Hospital cluster, bringing their totals to 295 and 58 respectively.

Two new cases were also linked to the North Coast Lodge, a dorm cluster, which now has 199 infections.

664 Cases in Hospitals; 6 in ICU

At the moment, there are 664 cases in hospitals, most of whom are well and under observation.

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

Of these 29 cases, 23 are patients above the age of 60.

Currently, 81% of our population has been vaccinated, with 83% having received at least one dose.

Learn the importance of vaccination here: