The latest conditional movement control order (CMCO) has brought down the nationwide rate of Covid-19 infection or R-naught (R0) from 2.2 to 1.2, Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said.

However, the director-general of health said the value has to be below 1.0 to prevent an exponential surge in daily cases.

“At the beginning of the third wave, the R0 was at 2.2 and we managed to bring it down to 1.5. Today it is at 1.2.  

“However, it is not good enough. We need to bring it down to less than one, which means although it takes a longer time, it will show some good results,” he said at a press conference in Putrajaya today.  

The nation’s best chance of flattening the curve is if the R0 value is reduced to below 0.3, he added.

To achieve this, the ministry is continuing active case surveillance and public health intervention. 

With Klang Valley, Sabah and now Nilai in Negri Sembilan being placed under the CMCO, Noor Hisham was asked if the measures implemented require tightening to curb infections. 

Instead of imposing a movement-control order (MCO), which will gravely impact the country’s economy, he said the government decided to adopt the CMCO, which is a hybrid model, allowing a balance between all. 

He said if there are areas of concern, then the government would impose a targeted enhanced MCO (TEMCO) on those places to identify the cases and curb the infection.

Today, Malaysia recorded 835 new Covid-19 cases and two deaths. 

This means Malaysia has now reported fatalities for 20 consecutive days. 

Sabah once again recorded the highest number of cases at 410, taking the state’s total since the start of the pandemic to 13,155. – October 27, 2020.