Unvaccinated 62-year-old man dies of COVID-19 complications; 450 new locally transmitted infections in Singapore

SINGAPORE: A 62-year-old man has become Singapore's 57th fatality from COVID-19, as the number of new community cases hit a new daily high, the Ministry of Health (MOH) said on Thursday (Sep 9).

The Singaporean man died of COVID-19 complications on Monday (Sep 6). Known as Case 65636, the man had not been vaccinated against COVID-19, and had a history of cancer and bronchiectasis, a lung condition.

He was taken to Singapore General Hospital for an unrelated medical condition on Jul 20 and tested positive for COVID-19 the next day. 

Singapore reported 450 new locally transmitted COVID-19 infections on Thursday, including 108 seniors who are above 60 years old. 

Of the 450 locally transmitted cases, 419 were in the community - a new daily record - and 31 were dormitory residents, according to data from MOH's Situation Report.

There were also seven imported cases on Thursday, taking Singapore’s daily count to 457. 

TWO NEW LARGE CLUSTERS

Two new large clusters were identified on Thursday at Hu Lee Impex and Sembcorp Marine Tuas Boulevard Yard.

Nine new infections were reported at Hu Lee Impex, a fresh produce importer, taking the total number of cases in that cluster to 22. MOH said there was "no evidence of spread beyond the workplace and household contacts of cases". 

Another 14 new infections were reported at Sembcorp Marine Tuas Boulevard Yard, taking the total number of cases in that cluster to 32. The Health Ministry said most cases in the cluster are residents of a dormitory at 38 Kian Teck Drive and had been quarantined earlier. 

MOH said it was "closely monitoring" nine other large clusters, including five linked to the bus interchanges at Toa Payoh, Tampines, Boon Lay, Punggol and Jurong East. Sixteen new infections were linked to the interchanges on Thursday. 

Between one and eight new cases were added to the other large clusters at Bugis Junction shopping mall, Changi General Hospital, North Coast Lodge dormitory and a construction site at 30 Sunview Way. 

26 SERIOUSLY ILL, 7 IN CRITICAL CONDITION

MOH also reported 664 cases currently warded in hospital. Of these, 26 cases were seriously ill and required oxygen supplementation, and seven were in critical condition in the intensive care unit, MOH said. 

Of those who were very ill, 28 were seniors above the age of 60.  

"Over the last 28 days, the percentage of unvaccinated who became severely ill or died is 5.2 per cent, while that for the fully vaccinated is 0.8 per cent," MOH said.

81% OF POPULATION COMPLETED FULL VACCINE REGIMEN

As of Wednesday, more than 8.8 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered under the national vaccination programme. This covered more than 4.5 million individuals, with 4.3 million having completed the full vaccine regimen, MOH said.

Another 175,027 doses of other vaccines recognised in the World Health Organization's emergency use listing have been administered, covering 86,379 individuals.

In total, 81 per cent of Singapore's population have completed their full regimen or received two doses of a COVID-19 vaccine, and 83 per cent have received at least one dose.

As of Thursday, Singapore has reported a total of 70,039 COVID-19 cases and 57 deaths from the disease.