PUTRAJAYA:Hospitals and health facilities in the country may not be able to accommodate more COVID-19 patients if the daily number of infections reaches 1,755 cases with an infectivity rate of R-Naught (R0) of 1.5 within 10 days.

Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said in this regard, the ministry would continue to strengthen public health capacities to reduce infectivity rate to below 1.0.

"Earlier we saw the number of new daily cases reported touched four figures on Oct 24 (1,240), Nov 4 (1,032 cases) and Nov 6 had 1,755 cases.

"However, after that (period) the number was less than we expected (with the cases returning to three digits) and if the number continues to decrease we will be able to flatten the curve," he told a press conference on COVID-19 development at the Health Ministry in Putrajaya yesterday.

He said public health measures and cooperation of all parties were important in efforts to break the chain of COVID-19 transmission in the country.

"We need to prevent, not control the spread of the virus at its infectious stage," he said.

Meanwhile, Dr Noor Hisham said control measures on inter-district and state movements in the Peninsula should be enhanced to break the chain of COVID-19 transmission.

The infection spread in the Peninsula is a cause of concern because the combined number of new cases in the Klang Valley and Negeri Sembilan today was 427 cases which is higher than Sabah which saw 259 new cases.

"Proactive action must be taken to curb COVID-19 and all parties must comply with the standard operating procedures (SOP) that have been set for us," he said.

He said the ministry had been conducting screening and other public health activities in the field to detect COVID-19 infection localities.

"To prevent infection, we have taken various actions such as those in the red zone returning to Kelantan must wear wristbands and be quarantined," he said.

-- BERNAMA