PUTRAJAYA: It takes just mere seconds for a person to be infected with the Covid-19 Delta variant, says Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.

       The Health director-general said the virus has become more contagious in its new mutation compared to the early stages of the pandemic.

       “In the past, a person can get infected from close contact of less than one metre with another person in a duration of 15 minutes.

       “Now, we are told that the Delta variant can infect someone in just five seconds and the virus is airborne.

       “The infectivity level is much higher,” he told a press conference yesterday.

       Dr Noor Hisham said the normal variant has an infectivity level of Rt 2.5 to 3, while the Delta variant is higher with an Rt of between 5 and 8.

       “If 100 people are infected, the disease can spread to 500 or 800 others,” he said.

       Dr Noor Hisham said it is not just Malaysia that is seeing a surge in infection after the emergence of the Delta variant but other countries too like Britain are facing a similar situation.

       However, he said increased public health measures and vaccination drive in Labuan has seen the island’s infections go down in a few weeks.

       “At one point, there were 1,340 cases in Labuan in just one week. We detected the infections there were of the Delta variant and it spread within the shipping industry.

       “We implemented public health measures and also boosted the vaccination drive, with 52% of the population there having received both doses.

       “Today, there are only 26 new cases. So these measures can control the pandemic and we need to apply the same strategy in the Klang Valley,” he said.

       Yesterday, Malaysia recorded 13,215 new Covid-19 cases, its highest daily figure to date.

       It was the third consecutive day that the country’s cases hit five digits.

       About 58% of the cases were in the Klang Valley, with Selangor recording 6,120 infections, Kuala Lumpur with 1,499 and Putrajaya with 53.

       Dr Noor Hisham said only 531 or 4% of the new cases were those in the more severe categories.

       “About 96% of the patients are Category 1 and 2 patients, which means they have little or no symptoms.

       “They are mostly detected from screening at workplaces and communities and only need to undergo home isolation,” said Dr Noor Hisham.

       Another 110 people died while 6,095 recovered from the disease.

       There are 108,369 active cases, of which 885 are in intensive care units.