PAHANG, which went into Phase 2 of the national recovery plan (NRP) today, has one of the highest Covid-19 infection rates (R1.17) of any state, said director-general of health Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.

According to Noor Hisham, Putrajaya had also registered the same infection rate of R1.17.

“Based on the latest data on July 4 the overall infection rate in Malaysia is R1.06,” he said in a statement.

The ministry data projects the average number of people that each new Covid-19 patient will infect, with R the effective reproduction number. An R value of less than 1.0 means the infection is not spreading.

On Saturday, Finance Minister Tengku Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz said that Kelantan, Terengganu, Pahang, Perak and Perlis had met all three indicators required to move to phase 2 and will do today. 

He said the decision was made based on the states meeting all three indicators of a reduction in the number of new cases per head of population, the capacity of beds utilised in intensive care units and the number of people in the states that have been vaccinated

Noor Hisham said other states that recorded an R-number of more than 1 were Mallaca (1.12), Selangor (1.08),  Kuala Lumpur (1.06), Kedah (1.05), Penang (1.04), Perak (1.04) and Sabah (1.02). – July 5, 2021.