Indian man dies of coronavirus in Singapore

A 32-year-old Indian man, who was on a long-term work pass in Singapore, died of the novel coronavirus on Wednesday, the Health Ministry said as the country's total number of COVID-19 cases reached 1,623.

The man underwent the test for the coronavirus at the National Centre for Infectious Diseases (NCID) on April 7 and was advised to stay at home pending the result.

His chest X-ray indicated that he did not have pneumonia, the ministry said.

"He passed away at his residence on April 8 and was confirmed to have COVID-19 infection after his demise, it said, adding that investigations is on to establish the cause of the his death.

With 142 cases reported on Wednesday, Singapore has a total of 1,623 COVID-19 infections.

Except for two imported cases, the others were local infections.

Meanwhile, a 31-year-old Indian man, who is a Singapore Work Pass holder, is currently in an isolation room at the NCID after he tested positive for the virus. He works as a technician at Ng Teng Fong General Hospital.

He has no recent travel history to affected countries or regions. He reported the symptoms on April 5 and subsequent test results confirmed COVID-19 infection on April 7.

Twenty-nine of the 669 confirmed cases in hospital are in critical condition in the intensive care unit. The rest are stable or improving.

To date, 406 cases have fully recovered from the infection and have been discharged from hospitals or placed in community isolation facilities.