The state had recorded a drop in its R0 at 0.96 following the 101 positive cases recorded yesterday. File Photo
KUCHING (Feb 10): Sarawak needs to work together to make sure all the control measures and standard operating procedures (SOPs) are followed to make sure that its Covid-19 infectivity rate, or R naught (R0) will stay below 1, said State Health director Dr Chin Zin Hing.
He said at present, the state had recorded a drop in its R0 at 0.96 following the 101 positive cases recorded yesterday.
“For Sarawak, our R0 on Jan 14 was 1.41 after we reported 255 cases. This means that if this was to continue, the number of cases will increase very high.
“Unfortunately, with control measures carried out, the R0 still stayed above 1 for quite some time until it came down to 1 on the day we reported 85 cases and dropped further down to 0.96 when the state recorded 101 cases yesterday,” he told a press conference today.
He said the Ministry of Health is constantly monitoring the R0 which will change depending on the number of cases that have been detected.
“Hopefully this trend in Sarawak will continue but we need to work together to make sure the R0 stays below 1.
“If it stays below 1, hopefully the number of cases will go down and we can hopefully control this outbreak,” he said.
R0 refers to the infectivity of a virus in the community at the beginning of an epidemic whereby a value more than 1 would mean that the disease would continue to spread at a rate depending on the R0.
The Ministry of Health had aimed at reducing the R0 to less than 1 in order to break the Covid-19 chain of transmission.
Dr Chin also touched on positive rate of Covid-19 in state where a total of 533,000 samples have been conducted since 2020 until Feb 9 with a positive rate of 1.58 per cent.
“For this year, from Jan 1 until yesterday, we have done 201,000 samples and out of this the positive rate is 2.42 per cent.
“The rate for this January alone is much higher than last year,” he said.
On tests conducted in divisions, he said the department had carried out around 18,000 tests in Kapit this year and based on the results, they have obtained a positive rate of about 2.57 per cent.
“For Sibu, during the same period, we have done 44,000 samples and the results of the positive rate is 5.9 per cent.
“If you compared that with what Sarawak have, the rate is much higher and double of the state’s,” he said.
He added that the 3,000 plus samplings taken in Sibujaya resulted in a positive rate of 7.1 per cent and hence the reason an Enhanced Movement Control Order (EMCO) was placed for the area from Feb 12 to 25.
Meanwhile, State Disaster Management Committee (SDMC) chairman Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas said the state managed to reach its degree of success in the drop of R0 was due to the cooperation from everyone.
“We thank the frontliners especially the divisional health offices who have worked really hard to make sure that everyone who needs to be screened, all steps taken to trace, test and isolate them is done.
“This is a challenge for our frontliners so we record our appreciation to them,” said the deputy chief minister.
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