GEORGE TOWN: As scientists are scrambling to understand the level of severity of the Omicron variant of Covid-19, health experts are advising the public that booster jabs are the best defence.

       Hospital Raja Permaisuri Bainun Infectious Diseases Physician Dr Steven Lim Chee Loon (pic) said the virus constantly changed through mutation and the emergence of new variants was inevitable as long as the public allowed the virus to consistently multiply and transmit in the community.

       “Our best defence against Omicron and the emergence of future variants is to continuously suppress Covid-19 transmission by adopting existing prevention measures.

       “These include staying vigilant in our daily activities by complying with physical distancing measures, masking up, ensuring hand hygiene, avoiding crowded places, ensuring good ventilation and, of course, stepping up our Covid-19 vaccination with booster shots,” he said when contacted.

       Dr Lim said not much information was known about Omicron at this early stage and so far, data had shown the variant to be highly infectious due to its vast mutations on spike proteins.

       “Scientists are racing to determine its severity, transmissibility and whether it can evade current vaccines.

       “I have always maintained that we must never let our guard down even when we see the number of Covid-19 cases declining.

       “As far as Covid-19 is concerned, we must always hope for the best and be prepared for the worst so that we will not be surprised by anything in between,” he added.

       Universiti Sains Malaysia virology scientist Dr Muhammad Amir Yunus said a booster shot was a good strategy to top up the neutralising antibody to prevent individuals from getting infected in the middle of an ongoing pandemic.

       “Vaccination and booster shots would still be the best solution to overcome the virus and the current standard operating procedure would still be effective in curbing the transmission of Covid-19.

       “We don’t know much about this variant just yet or its severity level as people are still looking at the data, but there is already an indicator that it might be highly transmissible.

       “The public also need to constantly pay attention to the number of daily cases so that they can be prepared and be alert all the time,” he added.

       USM Institute for Research in Molecular Medicine lecturer Assoc Prof Dr Venugopal Balakrishnan said the new variant was a heavily mutated strain, but patients admitted due to Omicron infections were reported to have only moderate headache and fatigue.

       “Until now, there is no evidence to show that the available vaccines will not be effective.

       “Therefore, the public need to be calm and get their booster shots to increase immunity and disrupt the transmission chain.

       “The longer we allow the transmission chain to proceed, the higher the risk of mutated variants that might be resistant to current vaccines,” he added.

       Dr Venugopal also advised the public not to panic as the variant had not been detected in the country, but reminded them to be extra vigilant.