SINGAPORE: Three more senior citizens have died of complications from COVID-19, bringing Singapore's death toll from the virus this month to 18.
All three cases were not vaccinated against COVID-19, said the Ministry of Health (MOH) in its daily update on Friday (Aug 27).
Two of the cases died on Thursday.
One was an 80-year-old Singaporean man who tested positive for COVID-19 on Aug 7 and was admitted to Ng Teng Fong General Hospital on the same day. He had no known medical conditions.
The other was a 90-year-old Singaporean woman who was taken to Khoo Teck Puat Hospital for an unrelated medical condition on Aug 18, and tested positive for COVID-19 the next day. She had a history of cancer, heart disease, hypertension and hyperlipidaemia.
The third fatality was a 70-year-old Singaporean woman who died on Friday.
She was also admitted to Khoo Teck Puat Hospital for an unrelated medical condition on Aug 11. She was negative for COVID-19 on admission, but tested positive when another test was taken on Aug 17.
She had a history of diabetes mellitus, ischaemic heart disease, end-stage renal failure, hypertension and hyperlipidaemia.
MOH said that two of the fatalities were "non-ambulatory and had limited movement outside of their homes, but yet had been infected as unlinked cases".
These were the 70-year-old woman identified as Case 68636 and the 90-year-old woman identified as Case 68664.
Singapore has recorded 55 deaths from COVID-19 to date. August is the country's deadliest month since the start of the pandemic.
Singapore reported 120 new locally transmitted COVID-19 infections as of noon on Friday, including 47 linked to the growing Bugis Junction cluster.
Of the remaining 73 locally transmitted infections, 31 were linked to previous cases and had been placed on quarantine, said MOH in its daily update. Another 16 linked infections were detected through surveillance testing.
Twenty-six infections were not linked to previous cases.
Among the new cases, three people above the age of 70 were unvaccinated or partially vaccinated, and are at risk of serious illness, said MOH.
There were also two imported cases, taking Singapore's daily case count to 122.
All households in Singapore will receive free antigen rapid test (ART) kits as part of the nation's strategy to step up COVID-19 testing efforts, the Health Ministry announced earlier on Friday.
ART kits will also be given to students and employees of pre-schools, Ministry of Education kindergartens, early intervention centres, primary schools and special education schools (primary and junior sections).
The ministry said Singapore is "on track" for 80 per cent of the population to be fully vaccinated by end-August, and that despite an "uptick" in cases in the past four days, the majority were asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic.
As the number of jabs per day has dropped, four vaccination centres will be closed and more clinics will be mobilised to administer the shots.
Singapore has reported a total of 67,050 COVID-19 cases as of Friday.
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All three cases were not vaccinated against COVID-19, said the Ministry of Health (MOH) in its daily update on Friday (Aug 27).
Two of the cases died on Thursday.
One was an 80-year-old Singaporean man who tested positive for COVID-19 on Aug 7 and was admitted to Ng Teng Fong General Hospital on the same day. He had no known medical conditions.
The other was a 90-year-old Singaporean woman who was taken to Khoo Teck Puat Hospital for an unrelated medical condition on Aug 18, and tested positive for COVID-19 the next day. She had a history of cancer, heart disease, hypertension and hyperlipidaemia.
The third fatality was a 70-year-old Singaporean woman who died on Friday.
She was also admitted to Khoo Teck Puat Hospital for an unrelated medical condition on Aug 11. She was negative for COVID-19 on admission, but tested positive when another test was taken on Aug 17.
She had a history of diabetes mellitus, ischaemic heart disease, end-stage renal failure, hypertension and hyperlipidaemia.
MOH said that two of the fatalities were "non-ambulatory and had limited movement outside of their homes, but yet had been infected as unlinked cases".
These were the 70-year-old woman identified as Case 68636 and the 90-year-old woman identified as Case 68664.
Singapore has recorded 55 deaths from COVID-19 to date. August is the country's deadliest month since the start of the pandemic.
120 NEW LOCALLY TRANSMITTED CASES
Singapore reported 120 new locally transmitted COVID-19 infections as of noon on Friday, including 47 linked to the growing Bugis Junction cluster.
Of the remaining 73 locally transmitted infections, 31 were linked to previous cases and had been placed on quarantine, said MOH in its daily update. Another 16 linked infections were detected through surveillance testing.
Twenty-six infections were not linked to previous cases.
Among the new cases, three people above the age of 70 were unvaccinated or partially vaccinated, and are at risk of serious illness, said MOH.
There were also two imported cases, taking Singapore's daily case count to 122.
ALL HOUSEHOLDS TO GET FREE TEST KITS
All households in Singapore will receive free antigen rapid test (ART) kits as part of the nation's strategy to step up COVID-19 testing efforts, the Health Ministry announced earlier on Friday.
ART kits will also be given to students and employees of pre-schools, Ministry of Education kindergartens, early intervention centres, primary schools and special education schools (primary and junior sections).
The ministry said Singapore is "on track" for 80 per cent of the population to be fully vaccinated by end-August, and that despite an "uptick" in cases in the past four days, the majority were asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic.
Related:
As the number of jabs per day has dropped, four vaccination centres will be closed and more clinics will be mobilised to administer the shots.
Singapore has reported a total of 67,050 COVID-19 cases as of Friday.
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Download our app or subscribe to our Telegram channel for the latest updates on the coronavirus outbreak: https://cna.asia/telegram
Continue reading...