This also applies to the current COVID-19 wave here in Malaysia because we're desperately hoping for it to end after the third wave.

However, it doesn't appear that it will end any time soon.

Numbers are not stable

Senior Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob has warned that the country could soon face the fourth wave of COVID-19 infections, Malay Mail reported.

According to Ismail Sabri, the observation was made after going through the Health Ministry’s risk assessment over the past 14 days.

The ministry has confirmed that the COVID-19 situation in most states is not stable, with the infectivity rate (R0) rising past 1.0, Ismail Sabri said.

“Presently, only Kelantan and Sarawak show an increasing trend of infections,” he was quoted as saying.

The infectivity rate in states such as Kuala Lumpur, Penang, Pahang and Labuan have shown fluctuations.

Meanwhile, states such as Kedah, Perak, Perlis, Terengganu, Selangor, Negri Sembilan, Melaka, Johor and Sabah have shown a decline in infectivity rate.

Despite that, Ismail Sabri revealed that despite showing a decline in infectivity rate, some of the states still have many red zones.

“KL still has many red and orange zones. Johor has reduced cases with fewer red zones and more green zones. Penang has a high rate of incidents and many red zones.

"Kelantan is increasing in incidents and trends with additional red zones, and Sarawak is increasing in the number of incident rates and additional red zones," he was quoted as saying.

Infectivity rate is slowly rising

On Monday (12 April), Health Director General Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah revealed that the nation's infectivity rate has risen to 1.06, New Straits Times reported.

The infectivity rate dropped 1.03 on Saturday (10 April), before returning to 1.06 on Sunday (11 April).

Dr Noor Hisham also revealed that Terengganu recorded the highest infectivity rate in the country with 1.56.

"For R-Naught in states that exceed the 1.0 figure, they are Putrajaya (1.34), Sabah (1.21), Kelantan (1.15), Sarawak (1.08), Perak (1.07), Kedah (1.06). Perak and Kuala Lumpur respectively with (1.05) and Selangor with (1.02).

"While the other three states, the R-Naught recorded is below 1.0, which is at 0.96 each in Penang and Pahang apart from Johor at 0.88," he was quoted as saying.

Perlis is the only state in Malaysia that has zero R-naught as there were no cases recorded, Dr Noor Hisham said.