The Covid-19 r-factor has gone down to 0.75, statistician Vincent Marmara said in this week’s vlog for The Malta Independent on Sunday.

The reproduction factor of the virus is one of the key figures which countries across the world have been trying to reduce ever since the Covid-19 pandemic began. The aim for countries has been to reduce the ratio to a level of 1 – which would mean that one person would transmit the virus to one other person.

The reproduction number is based on a variety of factors, such as the source of new cases – for instance, whether they are imported or whether they are part of particular clusters – and the amount of testing being carried out.

Marmara said that, for the fifth consecutive week, Malta has seen a decrease in daily Covid-19 cases. The number of new cases found over the last seven days decreased significantly when compared to last week’s numbers. 

When comparing the number of new cases to the total number of tests performed, the number this week decreased from 4% to 3.4%

While the number of deaths was lower this week, the numbers are fairly similar to previous weeks. The same can be said for recoveries.

Recoveries this week exceeded new cases by 23%.

When considering all this information, the r-factor works out at 0.75, Marmara said.

Noting that some people have asked how the r-factor can be below 1 with the current level of daily cases, Marmara explained that the r-factor gives an idea of how many people a positive person is infecting on average. “If we manage to keep the r-factor low, we can expect cases to decrease.”

Taking a look at other European countries, Marmara noted that the number of cases in France and Spain has remained stable, the UK and Germany saw an increase and Italy saw a drop in cases.

Marmara once again appealed for responsibility, noting that several recent cases have been linked to family gatherings. “It is up to us to consider the risks and do our part to stop the infection from spreading.”