Health D-G: Sarawak Covid-19 infectivity rate at 1.03, sixth highest in Malaysia

Dr Noor Hisham at a previous press conference on Covid-19. — Bernama photo

KUCHING (Feb 4): Sarawak’s Covid-19 infectivity rate, which is referred to as RT or R-naught (R0), is at 1.03, the sixth highest in the country as of yesterday, according to Health Director-General Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.

He shared infographics on Twitter today that showed that Johor had the highest Rt at 1.18, followed by Kuala Lumpur at 1.12, Labuan (1.11), Terengganu and Selangor at 1.10 each, Sarawak and Pahang (1.01).

The other states Rt were below one, namely Perak (0.99), Melaka (0.96), Kedah and Penang (0.93), Putrajaya (0.90), Negeri Sembilan and Sabah (0.89) , Perlis (0.82) and Kelantan (0.84).

Dr Noor Hisham said the Rt for the whole nation stood at 1.09.

Kadar kebolehjangkitan Covid-19 atau Ro/Rt pada jangkaan mengikut kes seharian pada 3 Februari 2021 untuk seluruh negara adalah 1.09. Manakala pecahan mengikut negeri adalah seperti di lampiran. pic.twitter.com/41wWSV7746

— Noor Hisham Abdullah (@DGHisham) February 3, 2021

The Health Ministry had previously explained that the value of Rt or R0 refers to the infectivity of a virus in the community at the beginning of an epidemic – how many individuals on average can be infected by a case.

If the value is more than 1, it means that the disease would continue to spread at a rate depending on the R0. As such, it is the ministry’s aim to reduce the RT to less than 1 in order to break the Covid-19 chain of transmission.

Yesterday, the Sarawak disaster management committee recorded 148 new Covid-19 cases for a total of 4,676 cases since the outbreak started in the state. The state also had three more fatalities yesterday, bringing the death toll to 42.

The state has seen a drastic increase in cases, especially since the Pasai Cluster in Sibu was announced on January 9. The cluster remains the biggest of the 12 active clusters in Sarawak with 2,050 cases yesterday.

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