SINGAPORE - An unvaccinated 84-year-old Singaporean died of complications due to Covid-19 on Friday (Aug 13).
The man developed symptoms on July 28 and was admitted to National University Hospital the next day. There, he tested positive for the coronavirus.
He had a history of cancer, heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol, the Ministry of Health (MOH) said on Friday night in its daily update.
This brings the total number of Covid-19 deaths in Singapore to 44.
Five new cases were added to the My First Skool cluster at 54 Chin Swee Road, which now has 11 cases linked to it.
MOH also announced three new clusters linked to confirmed Covid-19 cases, each with three to five infections.
Singapore recorded 45 new locally transmitted coronavirus cases on Friday - the lowest daily number of such cases reported since July 15, when there were 42 locally transmitted cases.
Of the locally transmitted cases, 13 are currently unlinked.
There were four imported cases that were detected and isolated upon arrival here, bringing Singapore's total to 66,061.
The number of new cases in the community has decreased from 671 cases in the week before to 380 cases in the past week, while the number of unlinked cases dropped from 191 to 108 cases over the same period.
Currently, 488 patients are hospitalised.
There are 30 people who require oxygen supplementation, and 10 are in critical condition in the intensive care unit. Seven of these 40 cases are fully vaccinated.
Of those who have fallen very ill, 34 are seniors aged above 60. Of these, 27 are unvaccinated or partially vaccinated.
"There is continuing evidence that almost all fully vaccinated individuals do not suffer serious disease when infected, unless they have underlying medical conditions that make them more susceptible," said MOH.
It added that over the past 28 days, 9.6 per cent of Covid-19 patients who are unvaccinated became severely ill or died, while the proportion of those fully vaccinated in this category is 1 per cent.
As at Thursday, a total of 8,286,283 doses of Covid-19 vaccines have been administered under the national vaccination programme, covering 4,402,608 individuals, with 4,011,715 people having completed the full vaccination regimen.
In addition, 142,966 doses of other vaccines recognised in the World Health Organisation's Emergency Use Listing have been administered, covering 82,951 individuals.
In total, 74 per cent of Singapore residents have received two doses of the vaccines, and 81 per cent have received at least one dose.
This article was first published in The Straits Times. Permission required for reproduction.