SINGAPORE - A 58-year-old woman died on Thursday (April 30) from complications due to Covid-19 infection, bringing the total number of such deaths here to 15.

She is the youngest patient here to die from the virus to date. The other 14 patients who died were between the ages of 64 and 95.

The woman, who is Case 703, had travelled to Europe and was confirmed to have the virus on March 26 after returning to Singapore.

Ng Teng Fong General Hospital has contacted her family and is extending assistance to them, said the Ministry of Health (MOH).

The ministry also announced on Thursday that there were 528 new Covid-19 cases, the seventh day in a row where the new daily infections fell below 1,000. The bulk of the new patients were foreign workers living in dormitories.

This brings the total number of coronavirus cases in Singapore to 16,169.

Of the new cases, 85 per cent are linked to known clusters. The rest are pending contact tracing.

MOH also announced 12 new virus clusters, including the Institute of Mental Health (IMH) in Buangkok. Three of the new cases on Thursday were linked to a previous case to form the cluster. The four cases linked to the IMH cluster are inpatients from an acute ward, said IMH on Thursday.

The first patient is a 64-year-old man who was admitted to the ward on April 19. He was moved to an isolation ward on April 27 when he developed fever and a cough. He tested positive on April 28, and is now being treated at the National Centre for Infectious Diseases.

IMH then tested all remaining 34 patients in the same ward, as well as staff caring for them. Three patients, aged 49, 32 and 24, tested positive on Thursday. As their symptoms are mild, they are being cared for at IMH in an isolation ward.

IMH said it will continue to monitor the 31 remaining patients who tested negative for the virus. It will also test more patients and staff.

The other 11 new virus clusters are linked to 9 Benoi Crescent; 24 Benoi Place; 2 Fan Yoong Road; 10 Gul Drive; 23 Kaki Bukit Road 6; 17 Soon Lee Road; JTC Space @ Tuas; 1 Tuas Avenue 10; 2 Tuas Avenue 10; 81 Tuas South Street 5; and 54/56 Tuas View Square.

Meanwhile, foreign workers living in dormitories made up 488 cases, due to extensive testing.

Most of them have mild illness and are being monitored in community isolation facilities or general wards of hospitals, said MOH.

Three are in the intensive care unit (ICU). Two of them had been admitted to hospital on April 18 and 19 respectively, and were transferred to the ICU when their condition deteriorated. The third patient was admitted directly to the ICU, and was confirmed to have Covid-19 infection subsequently.

Foreign workers living outside dorms made up 31 cases on Thursday. Most are construction workers serving their stay-home notices. While the number of such cases increased on Thursday, this has decreased from an average of 29 cases per day in the week before, to an average of 19 per day in the past week, said MOH.

Nine other new community cases comprised six Singaporeans and permanent residents and three work pass holders. The number of new cases in the community has decreased, from an average of 25 cases per day in the week before, to an average of 14 per day in the past week.

The number of unlinked cases in the community has also fallen, from an average of 17 cases per day in the week before, to an average of seven per day in the past week.

There were no imported cases.

MOH also said on Thursday that 56 more coronavirus patients have been discharged from hospitals or community isolation facilities. This means the total number of people who have fully recovered from the infection stands at 1,244.

Of 1,708 patients who are still in hospital, most are stable or improving. But 22 of them are in critical condition in the intensive care unit.

Another 13,202 patients, who have mild symptoms or are clinically well but still test positive for Covid-19, have been isolated and are being cared for at community facilities.

Globally, the outbreak, which began in December last year, has infected more than 3.21 million people. Some 228,000 have died.

The United States is the worst affected country in the world with more than 1.06 million cases and 61,000 deaths from Covid-19 as of Thursday.