Daily cases expected to hover at 500 by May, says health ministry

The health ministry expects daily Covid-19 cases to hover at 500 in May, depending on the level of compliance with the government’s SOPs.

Minister Dr Adham Baba said the projection was based on the declining infectivity rate (Rt) or R-naught (R0), which was 0.87 yesterday compared to 0.9 on Feb 28.

“However, if the SOPs are not adhered to, the RT is expected to rise again to over 1.0, along with the number of daily positive cases,” he said at a news conference on developments on the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme in Putrajaya today.

As of yesterday, he said, most states had achieved an RT of below 1.0 except for Terengganu and Penang.

On the incidence of Covid-19 cases based on districts in the peninsula, he said for the period of Feb 28 to March 14, the number of districts in green zones increased to 11 from six.

These comprised four in Kedah, two each in Pahang and Perak, and one each in Kelantan, Terengganu and Negeri Sembilan.

In the same period, the number of districts in red zones dropped to 35 from 42, while districts in yellow zones increased from 31 to 37.