199 Delta variant cases detected in the community so far, says Health DG

KUALA LUMPUR (Aug 7): A total of 199 Delta variant cases have been detected to date in the community, according to Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah, who said the emergence of the highly infectious variant is one of the reasons for the increase in new Covid-19 infections in the country.

"This Delta variant is far more aggressive, faster and shows less response towards treatment given. Therefore, the Ministry of Health (MOH) advises the public to always be compliant and adhere to standard operating procedures and obtain the vaccination immediately," he said in a statement yesterday.

He also noted that there has been an increased awareness in the community to conduct self-tests when individuals experience symptoms or have had close contacts with infected persons. "We found that a total of 70% RTK-Antigen tests were conducted by private agencies," the Health DG said.

He also shared that the country's basic reproduction number (R0, pronounced R-naught) for Covid-19 infections nationwide rose to 1.08 on Aug 5, from 1.07 reported in the previous day. The R0 or Rt projects the average number of people that each new Covid-19 patient will infect, or what is termed the effective reproduction number. An R0 of less than 1.0 means the infection is not spreading.

Except for Negeri Sembilan, Perlis and Labuan, all other states in the country registered an R0 of more than 1.0, with Kelantan posting the highest R0 on Aug 5 at 1.29, followed by Perak (1.23) and Penang (1.21).

Dr Noor Hisham also reiterated that the number of Covid-19 cases, which have been on the rise, is expected to decline by end-August, as more than 40% of the population is expected to be fully vaccinated by then. Based on the latest data from the Covid-19 Immunisation Task Force (CITF), 24.5% of the population had been fully vaccinated as of Aug 5.

Malaysia reported another record high of new Covid-19 cases as daily infections climbed further to 20,889 yesterday from Thursday's 20,596. This is the second day the country reports over 20,000 cases in a day.

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