SINGAPORE - An unvaccinated 93-year-old Singaporean woman has died of complications due to Covid-19 infection, said the Ministry of Health (MOH) on Wednesday (Sept 8).

The woman developed symptoms on Sept 2, and was admitted to the National Centre for Infectious Diseases on Sunday (Sept 5). There, she tested positive for the coronavirus.

She had a history of diabetes, chronic kidney disease, high blood pressure and high cholesterol.

Her death takes Singapore's Covid-19 toll to 56.

The ministry did not provide the number of linked and unlinked Covid-19 cases in its latest daily update, saying the information “is no longer as relevant as before, given our current strategy of living with Covid-19”.

Noting that Singapore is now in a very different stage of the battle against Covid-19, with 81 per cent of the population fully vaccinated, MOH said it has revamped its daily updates to “reflect the salient issues that we are facing in this new phase”.

It will continue to track the number of cases that are hospitalised with severe illness, and in the intensive care unit, to ensure hospitals do not get overwhelmed. 

As the vaccination rate is plateauing, MOH said, it will no longer present a detailed report on vaccination progress daily.

It will also issue updates on the local Covid-19 situation once a day instead of twice.

In addition, MOH will provide more information on large emerging clusters, so the public can avoid those areas or adjust their activities.

For instance, the ministry said the Covid-19 clusters at bus interchanges were caused by transmission at the workplace, with no evidence of spread to commuters.

Another 19 new cases were linked to staff at five bus interchanges in Toa Payoh, Tampines, Boon Lay, Clementi and Bishan.

Toa Payoh Bus Interchange remains the biggest cluster among them, with 183 cases, after seven new cases were added.

There are no new emerging large clusters, MOH said.

Bugis Junction is the largest active cluster, with four new cases that took its total to 295. The virus was spread among staff and visitors.

The North Coast Lodge cluster added two new cases, bringing the total number of cases to 199.

Four new cases were also linked to the Changi General Hospital cluster, which now has 58 cases. There is no evidence of spread to patients, MOH said.

All new cases from the Bugis Junction, North Coast Lodge and Changi General Hospital clusters were already quarantined.

Nine new cases were added to the cluster at the construction site at 30 Sunview Way for a total of 35 cases, with no evidence of spread beyond the worksite.

Singapore reported 349 new Covid-19 cases on Wednesday, comprising 347 locally transmitted cases and two imported ones.

Of the locally transmitted cases, 84 were seniors above the age of 60.

There are 664 Covid-19 patients still in hospital.

These include six in critical condition in the intensive care unit, and 23 who require oxygen support.

Read the full MOH press release here.