Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah — Bernama file photo
KUALA LUMPUR (April 19): The Ministry of Health (MoH) announced yesterday that Malaysia’s Covid-19 basic reproduction number (R0) is at 1.16 nationwide, compared to 1.19 on Saturday.
The R0 projects the average number of people that each new Covid-19 patient will infect.
“The contagion rate of Covid-19 or Ro/Rt in the expected daily case on April 18, 2021 for the whole country is 1.16,” its director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said on his Twitter last night.
Kadar kebolehjangkitan Covid-19 atau Ro/Rt pada jangkaan mengikut kes seharian pada 18 hb April 2021 untuk seluruh negara adalah 1.16. Manakala pecahan mengikut negeri adalah seperti di lampiran. pic.twitter.com/B9nGHYQJMM
— Noor Hisham Abdullah (@DGHisham) April 18, 2021
Despite the growing infectivity index, Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said that the federal government will no longer rely on imposing a nationwide movement control order (MCO) to combat the Covid-19 pandemic.
Senior Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob said last week that some states and Federal Territories, including Selangor, Kuala Lumpur, Johor, Penang, Kelantan and Sarawak, remain under a conditional movement control order (CMCO), while the rest of the country is under the more relaxed recovery movement control order (RMCO).
Aside from the national figure, Dr Noor Hisham said the R0 for Kelantan, Perlis, Kuala Lumpur, Terengganu, and Johor was 1.43, 1.31, 1.24, 1.20, 1.19, respectively.
Other states that recorded above 1.0 (R0) are Sabah (1.18), Negri Sembilan and Sarawak (both 1.27), Selangor (1.08), Kedah (1.06), and Melaka (1.02).
The R0 must be below 1.0 in order for the spread of Covid-19 to be suppressed.
“Perak and Labuan recorded the lowest R-nought value after both recorded 0.69 respectively.
“While Pahang’s R-nought value is at 0.98, Putrajaya is at 0.96, and Penang is at 0.89,” he added.
Yesterday, Malaysia recorded another 2,145 more infections for a cumulative total of 375,054, of which 19,854 were active.
Eight more deaths were also recorded yesterday, bringing the overall toll to 1,378. – Malay Mail