KUALA LUMPUR: The national infectivity rate or Rt has risen to 0.99 on Wednesday, said Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.
Putrajaya retained the highest Rt at 1.06, followed by Kuala Lumpur and Selangor (1.03), Kelantan (1.01), Negri Sembilan (1.00), Pahang (0.99), Sabah (0.98), Perlis and Kedah (0.97), Melaka (0.96), Penang (0.92), Terengganu and Johor (0.90), Sarawak (0.87) and Perak (0.86).
Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah had previously said that an Rt above 1.0 indicates the possibility of a new Covid-19 wave, like what Malaysia experienced in the beginning of the third wave.
Last Saturday, the Rt was at 0.91, 0.92 on Nov 7, Monday (0.94), and 0.96 on Tuesday.
On a separate matter, he said another 48 Covid-19 cases involving the Delta (B.1.617.2) variant were detected by the Integrative Pharmacogenomics Institute (iPROMISE-UiTM).
The 48 cases comprised 34 detected in Penang, 12 in Pahang and two in Perlis.
Dr Noor Hisham said to date, there are 3,830 variants of concern (VOC) and variants of interest (VOI) cases in Malaysia.
Of the total, 3,810 are VOC cases comprising 3,570 Delta cases, 226 Beta cases and 14 Alpha cases while 20 are VOI cases comprising 13 Theta cases, four Kappa cases and three Eta cases.
Meanwhile, a total of 6,323 new Covid-19 cases were reported as of noon today. The number of new cases rose slightly compared to the 6,243 recorded yesterday.
He said cumulative cases in Malaysia now stood at 2,528,821.
Of the new cases, 25 were imported cases involving 14 Malaysians and 11 foreigners.
"Of the 6,323 cases, 98.5 per cent of the patients are under Category 1 and 2 while 1.5 per cent are under Category 3,4 and 5.
"Also, 5,337 recoveries were also reported as of noon today, bringing the toll to 2,435, 459."
He said currently, 538 cases were being treated at the intensive care units where 274 are ventilated.
Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah added that four clusters – three workplace clusters and an educational institute cluster were identified in Selangor, Johor, Pahang and Kuala Lumpur today.
Both the workplace clusters, Industri Perusahaan Lorong Perak Tiga detected in Selangor and Industri Jalan Peserai found in Johor, were detected via targeted screenings on workers at factories.
The third workplace cluster, Jalan Gambut Kuantan, in the Kuantan district, Pahang, involved workers of a public administration office.
"The index case, a 31-year-old Malaysian man tested positive through self-screenings on Nov 9."
The sole educational institute cluster, Jalan Setiawangsa Utama, involved students of an educational centre in Taman Setiawangsa, Titiwangsa, Kuala Lumpur.
The index case was a three-year-old boy who was tested positive on Nov 9 via close-contact screening.
Detailed daily data on Covid-19 will be updated on covidnow.gov.com.my after midnight.