MALAYSIA’S Covid-19 infectivity rate or R0 rose by 0.01 points to 1.15 yesterday, director-general of health Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said today.

In a Facebook post, Noor Hisham posted graphics which showed the national infectivity rate, as well as a chart that forecasted daily cases to hit 13,000 by June 14, if the rate increased to 1.2 and without compliance to standard operating procedure.

By state, he said Malacca and Sabah reported the highest rates of R1.32 and R1.31 respectively.

Meanwhile, the infectivity rate was higher than 1.0 in almost all states, with Perlis and Labuan absent from Noor Hisham’s post.

R0 indicates the number of new infections stemming from a single case.

Malaysia recorded 8,290 cases in the past 24 hours and 72,823 active cases.

The alarming development pushed the government to impose a total nationwide lockdown, similar to March last year, from June 1 to June 14.

Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin said the decision was taken after Malaysia continues to record a high number of daily infections and the emergence of new variants that are more aggressive. – May 29, 2021.