Earlier this week, we reported that the country's COVID-19 infectivity rate (Rt) has been steadily increasing for the past couple of weeks.


We just didn't know how serious it was...until now.

Cases are also increasing

The COVID-19 infectivity rate has increased 11 per cent since 1 November, New Straits Times reported.

This has been confirmed by Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah, who said the Rt rate was at 0.96 at the beginning of the month but has climbed up to 1.05 and stayed there for the past three days.

As a result, the higher Rt rate has also escalated the number of cases from 35,303 cases in the 44th epidemiology week (31 October to 6 November) to 39,131 cases in the 45th week (7 November to 13 November).


Breaking down the cases, Dr Noor Hisham told the daily that while the number of active clusters had declined by 17 per cent, workplace-related COVID-19 clusters have increased by 33 per cent.

"Workplace clusters, which had been showing a decline since the 37th week, have now begun to increase again in the 45th week.

"The dominance of workplace clusters are expected to continue to increase if there is still no strict compliance of the standard operating procedures (SOP) practised by employers on employees," he was quoted as saying.

He added that education institution-related clusters have increased by 57.1 per cent, while high-risk clusters have increased by 100 per cent.


Image credit: The Straits Times

However, there’s still a silver lining, as Dr Noor Hisham revealed that the cumulative active cases, death rate, cases requiring intensive care unit treatment and cases requiring respiratory assistance have shown a declining trend.

You know what you need to do, guys. Continue to adhere to the existing SOPs, and please keep yourself and your loved ones safe.

MAIN IMAGE CREDIT: Xinhua.net