Selangorians, beware! The state currently has the highest COVID-19 R-Naught (R0) rate in the country.

Health director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah, in a Facebook post, said at 1.95, the higher R0 is caused by the sudden spike of COVID-19 cases recorded in the state, from the previous two or three, to 10 to 15 cases, daily.

"It takes into account, the magnitude of change and signals the potential risk of a bigger epidemic if the necessary public health precautions are not followed," he said, adding that the R0 rate for Sabah has, as of Tuesday, stabilised, with 1.26.

"This is still worrying as it involves high number of cases daily. The R0 number may rise if we do not take optimal public health interventions," Noor Hisham added.

The national average stands at 1.25.

Simply put, R0 represents the average number of people infected by one infectious individual.

If the number if greater than 1, the number of those infected will likely increase exponentially, and an epidemic could follow. If the RO is lower than 2, the outbreak will eventually die down on its own, as there are not enough people to be infected to sustain the outbreak.

According to Noor Hisham further, the R0 value for Kedah has gone down to 0.65, with just two new cases recorded in the last four days.

This was reflective of good adherence to the standard operating procedures (SOPs) set by the government, he stressed.

"It is crucial for the public to adhere to the SOPs and intervention measures set by the government."

Among others, the government has made the wearing of face masks in crowded public places mandatory. Those who fail to abide by this ruling or do not practice physical distancing in public, are slapped with a RM1,000 fine.

So far, Malaysia has recorded a total of 11,135 confirmed COVID-cases, with 134 deaths.

The global infection and death tally from the disease have surpassed 33.8 million, and one million, respectively.


Photo source: Astro Awani