Coronavirus pandemic

Two die of Covid-19 complications; 788 new cases here

People cycling at Jubilee Bridge at the weekend. Yesterday was the 13th day in a row with new daily cases below 1,000. The total number of coronavirus cases in Singapore now stands at 20,198. ST PHOTO: GAVIN FOO

Jean Iau

Correspondent

Updated

Published

May 07, 2020, 05:00 AM

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

In its daily update, the Ministry of Health (MOH) said yesterday 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 yesterday. 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 and Singapore General Hospital have offered assistance to the victims' 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 yesterday.

MOH said a total of 759 - over 96 per cent - of the 788 new cases announced yesterday are foreign workers in dormitories.

To date, 17,757 - about 5.5 per cent - of the 323,000 foreign workers living in dormitories have tested positive for the virus.

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

The ministry also announced seven new clusters at 20 Benoi Lane in Tuas, 5 Fourth Chin Bee Road in Jurong West, 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 there are 13 new 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 a day 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 new imported cases.

Yesterday was the 13th day in a row with new daily cases below 1,000.

The total number of coronavirus cases in Singapore now stands at 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.