Bernama file photo shows Dr Noor Hisham fielding questions at a press conference.
KUALA LUMPUR (May 11): The nationwide Covid-19 effective reproduction number (Rt) continued to stay in the 1.13 range yesterday as cases continued to soar in the country.
In a tweet, Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham showed that the Rt had increased slightly yesterday from 1.11, but remained below the 1.14 rate two days ago.
Dr Noor Hisham said that Kedah remained the state with the highest Rt at 1.31, with Pahang, Negri Sembilan, Penang, Terengganu, Melaka, Johor, Selangor, Perak, Putrajaya, and Kuala Lumpur all recording infectivity rates of more than 1.0.
Sarawak, Kelantan, and Sabah recorded infectivity rates of below 1.0, while Perlis and Labuan only recorded three new Covid-19 cases yesterday.
Kadar kebolehjangkitan Covid-19 atau Ro/Rt pada jangkaan mengikut kes seharian pada 10 hb Mei 2021 untuk seluruh negara adalah 1.13. Manakala pecahan mengikut negeri adalah seperti di lampiran. pic.twitter.com/Y1A2zPjsQ5
— Noor Hisham Abdullah (@DGHisham) May 10, 2021
The Rt value represents the average number of vulnerable people that each new Covid-19 patient could potentially infect, with a value of below 1.0 needed to successfully suppress the spread of the disease.
As of today, the lowest value registered since the beginning of the Movement Control Order (MCO) on Jan 13 this year was 0.81 on March 3, whereas the highest rate was recorded on April 17 at 1.19.
The Health Ministry recently opted to use Rt readings in place of basic reproduction number (R0), as the former provides a more useful benchmark for the quickness of the spread of Covid-19.
Yesterday, Malaysia’s Covid-19 case numbers saw a slight uptick with 3,807 new infections reported.
Selangor again had the highest number of new infections with 1,149 cases, followed by Sarawak with 649, and Kelantan with 329 new positive cases.
Dr Noor Hisham added that 17 more Covid-19 related deaths were recorded over the same period, with 1,700 cumulative deaths to date and a fatality rate of 0.39 per cent. — Malay Mail