The country's COVID-19 infectivity rate (Rt) has risen again, in tandem with the increasing number of cases.

Health director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said that as of Wednesday, the Rt rate stood at 0.99, which is just short of 1.0 - a mark that indicates the possibility of a new COVID-19 wave.

This is a rapid increase compared to the rates last Saturday (0.91), Sunday (0.92), Monday (0.94), and Tuesday (0.96), reported the New Straits Times (NST).

State wise, Putrajaya has the highest Rt (1.06), followed by Kuala Lumpur and Selangor at 1.03 each. Kelantan, Negeri Sembilan, and Pahang, follow suit to make the top 5, while Perak is the lowest at 0.86.

Noor Hisham further said that another 48 COVID-19 cases involving the highly transmissible Delta variant have been detected so far - 34 of which are in Penang, 12 in Pahang, and two in Perlis.

The delta cases are part of the 3,810 COVID-19 cases pertaining to variants of concern (VOC), and variants of interest (VOI) in the country, since the pandemic broke last year.

Another 6,323 COVID-19 cases were recorded yesterday, bringing the total number of cases in the country to 2.52 million.

The majority of the cases (98.5 per cent) are patients under Category 1 (asymptomatic) and 2 (mild symptoms) while the remaining 1.5 per cent involved those with lung infections and worse symptoms, requiring hospitalisation.

A total of 538 COVID-19 patients are being treated at intensive care units nationwide - 274 of whom require ventilation.

The country's fatality rate from the coronavirus is approaching 30,000, with 29,535 deaths clocked so far.

Globally, more than 252 million people have been infected with COVID-19, while over 5 million have died from it.


Source: NST
Photo source: Astro Awani