KUALA LUMPUR, May 24 — Health director-general Tan Sri Noor Hisham Abdullah said that the Covid-19 basic reproduction number (R0) was 1.21 yesterday nationwide, the highest so far this year.

Dr Noor Hisham in a Twitter posting revealed that the R0 rate in the country has not dropped for the past one week.

The graphics shared by Dr Noor Hisham showed that since May 16, the R0 rate has increased gradually from 1.05 to 1.18 on May 22, before increasing again yesterday.

It also showed that all states have recorded an R0 rate of more than 1.0, with Labuan topping the list at 1.76.

Perlis placed second at 1.58 and followed by Negri Sembilan and Terengganu at 1.30.

Meanwhile Selangor, Sabah, Penang, Johor, Kelantan, Melaka, Kuala Lumpur, Putrajaya, Kedah, Pahang, Perak and Sarawak recoded a R0 rate below 1.27.

So far, the lowest infectious rate recorded since the implementation of the movement control order (MCO) on January 13 this year, was on March 3, which was at 0.81.

The R0 projects the average number of people that each new Covid-19 patient will infect.

Yesterday, Malaysia reported a record 6,976 new Covid-19 cases amid a recent surge in infections, raising the total count in the country since the pandemic began to 512,091.

The Health Ministry also reported 49 deaths, taking the total death toll to 2,248.