Covid-19 infectivity dropping, but crisis far from over, says health DG

 

Health director-general Dr Noor Hisham called for better cooperation and coordination from other ministries and government agencies in handling the pandemic.

PETALING JAYA: The health ministry has managed to reduce Malaysia’s rate of infection or R0, despite the spike in Covid-19 positive cases.

An R0 value is used to calculate how fast Covid-19 is spreading.

In a press conference today, health director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said the R0 value during the beginning of the Covid-19 third wave (Sept 20) was 2.2, but within four weeks, the infection rate had dropped to 1.5.

Noor Hisham said the decline in the infection rate showed that the ministry’s efforts in combating the virus had proven effective.

He said if the infection rate was maintained at 2.2, the number of positive cases may exceed 1,000 cases daily.

He said bringing the infection rate value below one would need the public’s cooperation.

“If we can increase our compliance, maybe we can bring down the infection rate and break the transmission of Covid-19.”

He said during the beginning of the movement control order (MCO) on March 18, the R0 value was 3.5. The R0 was lowered to 0.3 due to action taken by the government as well as compliance from members of the public.

However, on Sept 7, a R0 value of 1.7 was recorded following the surge of cases in Kedah and Sabah.

Reminding that the country is still under the recovery movement control order (RMCO) until Dec 31, he warned members of the public to stop being complacent as failure to abide by Covid-19 preventive measures could have dire consequences.

He also called for better cooperation and coordination from other ministries and government agencies in handling the pandemic. - FMT