1st ICU coronavirus case in Singapore in more than 2 weeks

SINGAPORE - A coronavirus patient is in critical condition in the intensive care unit, the first such case here in more than two weeks, according to an update by the Ministry of Health (MOH) on Monday night (Aug 3).

The last time there was a Covid-19 patient in ICU was July 13. Since then, no patients have been reported to need such care until Monday.

Monday's ICU case is one of the 115 coronavirus patients who are still in hospital.

Together with the 5,730 still recuperating in community facilities, Singapore now has 5,845 active cases.

This makes up 11 per cent of the 53,051 cases that Singapore has recorded to date.

With 253 cases discharged on Monday, 47,164 have now fully recovered from the disease and been discharged.

MOH also announced 226 new coronavirus cases on Monday, including one community case: an inmate who was admitted to Changi Prison Complex on July 30.

The 26-year-old Sri Lankan man, who is on a short-term visit pass, was tested as part of the Singapore Prison Service's proactive screening of newly admitted inmates.

He had been segregated from the general inmate population since his admission, MOH said.

The man also served an earlier sentence in prison but had tested negative for his entry and exit swabs then on July 2 and July 22 respectively.

He is currently unlinked to other known cases.

[embed]https://youtu.be/xMqrG7Iivys[/embed]

The rest of Monday's new patients comprise nine imported cases who had been placed on stay-home notices upon their arrival in Singapore from India, Japan and the Philippines, as well as 216 migrant workers living in dormitories.

Among the imported cases was a one-year-old boy who had arrived from India in July. The Indian national was confirmed to have the coronavirus on Sunday.

He holds a dependant's pass and is a contact of a previous case.

Another imported case is a permanent resident - a 40-year-old man - who returned to Singapore from India on July 22.

The average number of new daily cases in the community during a week has decreased from five cases two weeks ago to two in the past week.

The number of unlinked cases in the community during a week has also fallen from a daily average of three cases to one over the same period.

MOH also said in its update that the clusters linked to Keppel Shipyard and Paya Lebar Quarter Tower 2 have been closed because no new cases have been linked to the clusters in the past two incubation periods, or 28 days.

Singapore has had 27 deaths from Covid-19 complications, while 15 who tested positive have died of other causes.

For the latest updates on the coronavirus, visit here.

This article was first published in The Straits Times. Permission required for reproduction.