TERENGGANU has transitioned to phase two of the national recovery plan despite being the most infectious state in the country, director-general of health Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said today.

The east coast state has a R-number of 1.31, while the national rate of infection is R1.12 as of yesterday.

Health experts previously warned that Malaysia is transitioning and relaxing its Covid-19 standard operating procedure (SOP) too soon.

They said at least 40% to 50% of the population needed to be vaccinated before restrictions could be eased.

As it stands only 15,071,814 million people have been vaccinated as of yesterday.

Of which, 10.3 million or 31.9% of the total population have now received their first dose, while the remaining 4.76 million or 14.6% of the population have received two jabs.

In Terengganu, 273,390 or 21.7% of the population has received one dose of the vaccine, while 144,364 or 11.5% have received both jabs.

Noor Hisham said today that, along with Terengganu, Perlis, Perak and Kelantan are also currently in Phase 2 of the recovery plan.

Perak recorded an infection rate of R1.13, Kelantan was R1.1 and Perlis only recorded two cases.

Noor Hisham noted that an R-number greater than one indicated the infection was spreading, which includes Sabah (R1.25), Kedah (R1.23), Penang (R1.22), Johor (R1.2), Putrajaya (R1.19), Selangor (R1.12), Negri Sembilan and Pahang (R1.14), Perak (R1.13), Malacca (R1.12), Kelantan (R1.10) and Kuala Lumpur (R1.09).

Only two states recorded an R of less than one: Sarawak (R0.95) and Labuan (R0.75).

Under the national recovery plan, individual states can move to Phase 2 when 10% of the state’s population has been vaccinated, there are less than 4,000 daily cases and the healthcare system must no longer be critical.

Malaysia yesterday logged 12,366 new Covid-19 infections. There are currently 133,703 active cases nationwide. – July 21, 2021.