Two die of Covid-19 complications, bringing Singapore's death toll to 20; 788 new cases

A 97-year-old woman and 73-year-old man have died from Covid-19 complications. ST PHOTO: KUA CHEE SIONG

Updated

Published

May 06, 2020, 03:19 PM

SINGAPORE - Two more people have died from complications due to Covid-19, bringing the total number of deaths here to 20.

In its daily update, the Ministry of Health (MOH) said on Wednesday (May 6) that a 97-year-old Singaporean woman died on Tuesday night. She was confirmed to have the virus on April 7, and had a history of hypertension.

The other patient is a 73-year-old Singaporean man who died on Wednesday. He was also confirmed to have Covid-19 on April 7, and had a history of hypertension, hyperlipidaemia and diabetes mellitus.

The National Centre for Infectious Diseases (NCID) and the Singapore General Hospital (SGH) have offered assistance to the respective families.

Foreign workers living in dormitories continue to make up the bulk of new cases in Singapore as the country's total number of cases surpassed the 20,000 mark on Wednesday.

MOH said that a total of 759 - or over 96 per cent - of the 788 cases announced are foreign workers from dormitories.

There were 16 cases among foreign workers not living in dormitories.

The ministry also announced seven new clusters at at 20 Benoi Lane in Tuas, 5 Fourth Chin Bee Road in Joo Koon, 36 & 38 Kian Teck Drive in Joo Koon, Tampines Street 62, 14 Tech Park Crescent in Tuas, 50A Tuas Link 4 and 35 Tuas View Walk 2.

The ministry said that there are 13 cases in the community, of which 11 are Singaporeans or permanent residents, while two are work pass holders.

New community cases have dropped to an average of 10 a day in the past week, from 16 in the week before.

The average daily number of unlinked cases in the community has also fallen to four from nine in the same period.

There are no imported cases. This is the 13th day in a row when new daily cases are below 1,000 and brings the total number of coronavirus cases in Singapore to 20,198.

MOH said 115 more cases have been discharged from hospitals or community isolation facilities, bringing the total number of those who have been discharged to 1,634.

There are 1,462 confirmed cases still in hospital, with 23 in critical condition in the intensive care unit.

Another 17,082 are in community facilities.

Of the new cases, 93 per cent are linked to known clusters. In the past week, from April 29 to May 5, MOH uncovered links for 503 previously unlinked cases.