.jpg "A healthcare worker collects swab samples to test for Covid-19 at Dewan Desa Temuan in Kota Damansara January 29, 2021. u00e2u20acu201d Picture by Ahmad Zamzahurinn")
KUALA LUMPUR, March 17 — Malaysia’s Covid-19 infectivity rate that had been declining steadily saw a slight uptick yesterday, based on infographics provided by Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.
The effective reproduction number (Rt) for Covid-19 infections nationwide as of March 16 rose slightly from 0.85 to 0.87, with Terengganu recording the highest Rt at 1.16.
Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham who shared the data on his Twitter account this morning, said Penang recorded the second highest Rt value at 1.08, followed by Sarawak at 1.01.
The other states that recorded Rt values higher than the national average are: Kedah (1.00), Labuan (0.96), Pahang (0.93), Kelantan (0.91), and Selangor (0.90).
Sabah, which had been the epicentre of Malaysia’s Covid-19 third wave when it began last October, had an Rt value of 0.83.
Other states with lower Rt values are: Melaka (0.81), Kuala Lumpur and Johor (both 0.79), Perak (0.64) and Negri Sembilan (0.61).
The Rt values for Perlis and Putrajaya were not given as both recorded zero Covid-19 cases yesterday.
The Health Ministry has increasingly been using Rt in place of basic reproduction number (R0), as the former provides a more useful benchmark for the quickness of the spread of Covid-19.
The Rt measures the average number of vulnerable people that each new Covid-19 patient will infect at a specific point in time, and must be below 1.0 in order for the spread of the disease to be suppressed.
Malaysia’s daily new coronavirus infections have been declining. Yesterday, the Health Ministry registered 1,063 cases nationwide, the lowest recorded to date this year.
Selangor topped the list of states with the most number of cases at 323, followed by Sarawak with 183 cases and Penang with 175 cases.
