.jpg "Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah speaks during his daily press conference on Covid-19 in Putrajaya February 9, 2021. u00e2u20acu201d Picture by Hari Anggara")
KUALA LUMPUR, July 18 — Terengganu — currently under Phase Two of the National Recovery Plan (NRP) — has recorded the highest effective reproduction number (Rt) for Covid-19 infections in Malaysia at 1.31, Health Director-General Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah revealed today.
Terengganu is one of the five states (Kelantan, Pahang, Perlis and Perak) that were allowed to transition into Phase Two of the NRP with relaxed containment measures on July 5.
“Based on the latest data as of July 17, the average Rt value for Malaysia is at 1.18,” he said in a statement here.
Dr Noor Hisham said other states recording Rt values of more than 1.0 were Federal Territories Putrajaya (1.26), Kedah (1.25), Negri Sembilan and Kuala Lumpur (1.19) and Penang (1.18).
Other states below the national average were Selangor, Melaka and Perak (1.17), Sabah (1.15), Kelantan (1.13), Pahang (1.11) and Johor (1.10).
Three states saw an Rt value of less than 1.0, namely Sarawak (0.94), Federal Territories Labuan (0.74) and Perlis (0).
For Covid-19 to be effectively suppressed, the Rt — measuring the average number of people infected by a Covid-19 patient at a given time — must be below 1.0.
States under said phase would be allowed to restore more socio-economic activities such as hairdressers and barbers as well as individual sports. Essential services will also be allowed to run with up to 80 per cent capacity.
Earlier, Malaysia recorded 10,710 Covid-19 cases in the past 24 hours, breaching the 10,000 daily Covid-19 cases mark for six consecutive days since July 13.
A total of 153 Covid-19-related deaths were also reported today, beating the previous record set the previous day according to Health Ministry data.
