Explaining R0 for COVID-19

In an interview with the Star Newspaper, Professor Dr Sanjay Rampal explains the R0 for COVID-19.

He said in general, the R0 value of the Covid-19 virus was estimated to be about 5.7 or 5.8. This means that one Covid-19 infected person could on an average pass the disease on to five to six people if the virus is allowed to spread without any form of public health intervention.

He continues to explain that the infectiousness of the virus depends on the agent of the virus and the environment. In Malaysia with the public health interventions; e.g., active case detection and contact tracing, physical distancing, the likelihood that a infected person is spreading the disease is reduced. The R-value for Malaysia had dropped to about 1.5 or 1.6.

There are various factors that affected the Rt value, such as the mutation of the COVID-19 virus and the intensity and compliance with public health interventions.

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