The Health Director-General, Datuk Dr. Noor Hisham posted on his Facebook today (May 13) mentioning that if the COVID-19 pandemic in Malaysia is under control, the value of "R-nought" will decrease. However, if Malaysians were not alert, the R-value might increase.

R-nought is a way to predict the outbreak. It can be used to show the infectivity of the virus at the beginning of the outbreak, that is, on average how many people may be infected.

  
Facebook: Noor Hisham Abdullah

He stated in the Facebook post that when the value of R-nought is less than 1, this indicates that the COVID-19 pandemic has ended.

He gave an example that if the R-value is 4, this means that each infected patient could spread the virus to 4 people.

"When the epidemic spreads, if the preventive measures are carried out correctly and continuously, the value of R will decrease at intervals t1, t2, t3 (and later)," he explained, as reported in Sin Chew Daily.

He pointed out that if Malaysians did not stay alert, the value of R might increase.

Cover photo: The Star || Noor Hisham Abdullah's Facebook