PETALING JAYA: As more people in the world wake up to the possible danger posed by the Omicron variant of the Covid-19 virus, public health experts in Malaysia say strict travel restrictions should be maintained.
They also advised the public to take the booster shots as it is the best protection against the virus.
Universiti Putra Malaysia medical epidemiologist Assoc Prof Dr Malina Osman said the travel restriction list was needed for the time being as the impact of the Omicron variant on pandemic management and the healthcare system was still unknown.
“But, with more evidence on its actual magnitude of disease burden and impact on the healthcare system, we can review this,” she said.
Currently, not much is known about the variant but so far milder infection is seen among the younger age groups.
However, how it affects those who are immuno compromised is not fully known.
“In my opinion, the current SOP to curb infections should be continued but we have to be cautious of the unknown features of the clinical impact towards the population.
“As such, wearing masks, physical distancing and hand hygiene must continue. We should never take it lightly. Continuous monitoring is also still needed,” said Dr Malina.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), the variant is now present in 77 countries.
It has also spread rapidly in the United Kingdom with the country recording its first death caused by the variant. Its Health Secretary had noted that the variant is expected to become the dominant strain by this week.
Singapore too has seen 16 cases of Omicron and believes that booster jabs will be a key part of its strategy against the new variant.
Thailand, meanwhile, has so far detected eight imported Omicron cases as it also races to strengthen its population’s immunity.
Dr Malina pointed out that receiving the booster dose was also important as evidence had shown that waning antibodies were seen in those fully vaccinated after three to six months.
“The booster dose will increase antibodies, therefore provides appropriate protection against possible new infection.
“While questions on whether vaccines are effective against Omicron are still being discussed, the booster dose implementation in Israel and Singapore has been proven to be effective at reducing cases and preventing severe manifestation and complications.
“With increased proportion coverage of booster doses and continuous SOP adherence, I think we would be able to curb the spread of Omicron in the country,” she said.
On Nov 14, Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said on Twitter, that early data about Omicron showed increased transmissibility, unclear outcomes for hospitalisation and severe disease, as well as higher ability to evade antibody-mediated neutralisation.
He also said antibodies induced by natural SARS-CoV-2 infection had largely failed to neutralise the Omicron variant, adding that evidence also suggested that a booster vaccine would likely offer protection against both Delta and Omicron variants.
The WHO’s latest findings on Dec 8, found that the variant increases the risk of reinfection and it may also cause milder disease based on early data, although noting that more data is still needed before drawing firm conclusions.
WHO director-general Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on Nov 14 cautioned the world not to take the variant lightly, noting that the variant is spreading at a rate not seen in other variants.
Universiti Malaya epidemiologist Prof Datuk Dr Awang Bulgiba Awang Mahmud believed it was still too early to conclude that Omicron causes milder disease compared to the other variants.
He said updates by the UK Health Security Agency, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control still could not definitively state that Omicron causes milder illness.
“At this point in time, we should keep travel restrictions as they are just to be on the safe side. Once we establish the epidemiological characteristics of the Omicron variant, we will be able to have a better picture of the situation.
“We are also still discovering more things about Omicron. Malaysia does not have a clear picture as we still have not done enough genome sequencing,” he said, adding there was no data yet on the Omicron variant from the Health Ministry.
With Pfizer-BioNTech on Dec 8 noting that its vaccine appears to work against the Omicron variant, Dr Awang Bulgiba urged those who were eligible for booster jabs to take it for optimal protection.
Medical Practitioners Coalition Association of Malaysia president Dr Raj Kumar Maharajah opined that pushing the panic button every time a new variant comes up was not the way forward.
He stressed that there could be more variants popping up in the next one to two years.
“We have to adhere to the SOP and getting the booster shot is the way forward,” he said.