Coronavirus: Seventh patient dies as infections in Singapore cross 2,000

86-year-old Singaporean woman was resident of old-age home; ICA Building one of 3 new clusters

Singapore reported 198 new cases of Covid-19 infection on April 10, 2020. ST PHOTO: MARK CHEONG

Singapore reported the seventh coronavirus-linked death, as 198 new cases confirmed yesterday took the total number of infections past the 2,000-mark to 2,108.

An 86-year-old patient died on Thursday night, the Ministry of Health (MOH) said. The Singaporean woman is the second resident at the Lee Ah Mooi Old Age Home - which has reported 16 cases - to die from the illness.

Three more clusters have emerged, said MOH. These are the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) Building in Kallang and two involving foreign workers.

As has been the case for the last few days, many of the new infections reported yesterday - 79 out of 198 - are linked to foreign worker dormitories.

The ICA Building - a cluster comprising one new case and four previous ones - will be closed today for cleaning.

Three ICA officers who tested positive are warded at the National University and Changi General hospitals, the authority said last night.

The other two cases linked to the cluster are healthcare and security service providers engaged by ICA.

The first new foreign worker cluster is made up of four confirmed cases at a dormitory at 31 Sungei Kadut Avenue.

The dormitory is run by Kakiko Group, a firm which brands itself as a built environment resource business group.

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The second is a renovation site at the National University Hospital, which has been found to have 14 cases.

Apart from foreign workers, there were two more new Covid-19 patients in the healthcare sector, MOH said.

One is a doctor at Tan Tock Seng Hospital, the ministry said, adding that a previous patient is also a doctor at the same hospital. Both are 26-year-old Singaporean women who are close contacts. Neither has recent travel history to affected countries or regions.

Both are now warded at the National Centre for Infectious Diseases (NCID).

Prior to hospital admission, they had gone to work but had only transient contact with patients, MOH said.

The second healthcare worker confirmed to have the virus yesterday is a 35-year-old Singaporean who works as a patient service associate at Hougang Polyclinic.

She had not gone to work since she started showing symptoms on April 4. She is warded in an isolation room at Sengkang General Hospital.

MOH said that there were 32 more cases of Covid-19 patients who were discharged from hospitals or community isolation facilities yesterday.

This means that to date, a total of 492 cases have fully recovered from the infection and been discharged.

Of the 875 patients still in hospital, most are stable or improving, while 32 are in critical condition in the intensive care unit.

A total of 734 cases who are clinically well but tested positive for Covid-19 are isolated and cared for at community facilities.

As of noon yesterday, MOH has identified 22,674 close contacts who have been quarantined.

Of these, 7,723 are currently quarantined, and 14,951 have completed their quarantine.

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on April 11, 2020, with the headline Coronavirus: Seventh patient dies as infections in Singapore cross 2,000. Subscribe