Covid-19 May Have Reached Peak Point, Says DG
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The worst might be over for Malaysia’s Covid-19 crisis, but there’s plenty of work still to be done to subdue the viral plague.
The Malaysian Health Ministry believes that the nationwide Movement Control Order (MCO) has been successful at flattening the curve – bringing down the rate of infection in the country.
(Credit: Wired)
Health Director-General Datuk Dr. Noor Hisham said that the country may have reached its peak point in coronavirus cases sometime last week, or around the same time as the second phase of the MCO.
Previously, analysts at JPMorgan Chase & Co predicted that Malaysia’s Covid-19 infection will reach its peak around mid-April, expecting over 6,000 people to be stricken by the disease.
The DG explains that the ministry was using daily data collected over the crisis period to make more realistic predictions regarding the outbreak in Malaysia and took it as a good sign that the country is currently reporting fewer cases day by day and isn’t experiencing a sudden spike in new infections.
(Credit: Malay Mail)
It’s not over yet
Malaysia is fighting to bring the infection rate down further.
MOH speculates that the country needs at least 6 weeks to break the chain of infection.
Dr Noor Hisham explains that the coronavirus reproduction rate (R0/R-nought) or the rate at which the infection spreads from person to person during phase 1 and 2 of the MCO was at 3.55, meaning that one sick person will statistically infect another 3.55 people.
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(Credit: Malay Mail)
The day the third phase of the MCO was announced, the nation’s R0 was at 1.0 showing the positive impact of the lockdown.
MOH expected the nation’s R0 to drop to 0.9, meaning that one sick person would infect less than one person reasonably by April 14, before the MCO was extended by another two weeks, to end April 28.
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