Latest COVID-19 Death in S’pore Had Worked in Indonesia & Came Back to S’pore Recently


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Besides all the cancelled vacations in Hong Kong, we’ve mostly had good news for the last couple of weeks.

Until one community case who decided to have dinner with 12 relatives, Singapore had no  community cases for over two weeks.

Two days later, on Saturday (28 Nov), yet another community case was reported.

But this week has even more bad news in store for us.

Latest COVID-19 Death in S’pore Had Worked in Indonesia & Came Back to S’pore Recently

A 68-year-old Singaporean died from complications due to the coronavirus on Friday (27 Nov), bringing Singapore’s death toll to 29.

The man, Case 58343, had a history of hypertension and heart disease, the Ministry of Health (MOH) said.

On 10 March, the man had travelled to Indonesia for work.

He returned to Singapore on 17 Nov, but was admitted to a hospital upon his arrival as he had been experiencing shortness of breath since 11 Nov.

He was confirmed to have Covid-19 on 18 Nov.

Over a week later, the man died from complications due to the disease.

The cause of death, as determined by a pathologist, was ischaemic heart disease with Covid-19.

“The National University Hospital has reached out to his family and is extending assistance to them”, MOH said.

The last Covid-19 fatality was on 12 Oct, when a 64-year-old man died due to complications from Covid-19.

Lowest Fatality Rate in the World

While any number of deaths is too high, Singapore has the lowest death rate in the world, with just 29 deaths out of 58,205 infections.

Based on countries that recorded more than a thousand cases, Singapore’s death rate – 0.05% – is well below the global average of around 3%, according to Reuters. 

There are a few reasons for this.


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Most of Singapore’s infections are migrant workers living in dormitories, who are mostly in their 20s or 30s.

Given that they’re young and likely fit due to working labour-intensive jobs, they are less likely to suffer severe illness or serious complications from Covid-19.

Another reason is the country’s aggressive contact tracing. This includes the rostered testing regime for dormitory residents.

Singapore’s preemptive approach to hospitalisation has also likely had an impact on the fatality rate.

Covid-19 patients above the age of 45 with underlying conditions, for instance, will be cared for even if they are otherwise well.


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“Our care is conventional but done well; fluid management, anticoagulation and both proven drugs and participation in drug trials,” said Dale Fisher, a senior consultant at Singapore’s National University Hospital.

At the moment, Singapore has 57 active Covid-19 cases.

32 are in stable condition, while the rest are in community facilities.

Featured Image: PSawanpanyalert / Shutterstock.com