PETALING JAYA: The number of Covid-19 cases recorded per day is likely to remain above the 4,000 mark despite the negative infectivity rate of 0.97 currently.

       Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said the Covid-19 infectivity rate, or the R0/Rt reading, according to projections based on daily cases on Saturday (June 26) for the entire country, is at 0.97.

       The R0/Rt data projects the average number of people that each new Covid-19 patient will infect. Rt means the effective reproduction number. An Rt of less than 1.0 means the infection is not spreading.

       He tweeted infographics late Saturday evening which showed that Melaka had the highest Rt of 1.06, followed by Negri Sembilan (1.04), Pahang (1.02) and Selangor (1).

       According to projections, the number of daily Covid-19 cases based on an Rt of 0.95 would still be above 4,000 at the end of June and likely into the first week of July.

       Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin has said that the nationwide lockdown will not end on Monday (June 28).

       The government's National Recovery Plan has set a benchmark of 4,000 cases daily before the country can move into the second phase.

       Other criteria is for use of intensive care units at hospitals to ease to a "moderate" level and for at least 10% of the country to be vaccinated.