ARE high daily Covid-19 numbers a sign people have chosen to live with the virus, or have Malaysians become complacent?

Health experts say it is a bit of both.

The highly infectious Omicron Covid-19 variant may be causing daily cases to balloon, but the situation is under control as long as healthcare facilities are not overstretched, they said.

Meanwhile, it may also be a sign that people are becoming tired of following rules like social distancing, coupled with higher vaccination rates making them feel more protected, and thus they behave carelessly.

The experts said these reasons are precisely why getting vaccination is important, while adding that even though Omicron is not as deadly as Delta, for example, people must still wear their masks and practise social distance to reduce the risk of infection.

Former deputy health minister Dr Lee Boon Chye said people are becoming more confident of handling the Covid-19 virus.

“People are getting less strict because of the high vaccination rate.

“They think that the Omicron variant is not as severe as the earlier Delta variant, so people could be taking fewer precautionary measures,” the Gopeng MP told The Malaysian Insight.

He said a high number of daily cases is inevitable due to Omicron, but as long as the public healthcare system is not overwhelmed, the situation is under control and the government should not return to imposing strict standard operating procedures (SOP).

“I think the public’s behaviour reflects what the government is doing (in loosening the SOPs). I’m not saying that it is wrong, but this is to be expected.

“It is a phase we have to go through.

“If the Omicron wave is not a major threat to the public health system, then it doesn’t make sense to have more stringent control measures.

“Hence, moving forward, all the control measures should be convenient for the people, which is what I think the Health Ministry and the government are trying to do,” Lee said.

Malaysia has continued to report more than 20,000 cases a day for the past few weeks, and logged a record 31,199 cases on Wednesday.

The explosion in numbers means there are almost 300,000 active cases, but the vast majority of which are either asymptomatic or mild, and do not require hospitalisation.

Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin said Malaysia was expected to move from pandemic to the endemic phase by the end of October last year.

However, with the emergence of the Delta variant, this transition did not take place.

Living with Covid

“Living with the virus” may mean a high number of new infections daily, as vaccination does not prevent infection or re-infection, but has shown to result in less severe Covid-19.

“If we are not able to achieve herd immunity in the near future, the next best thing is to live with the virus,” Lee said.

Herd immunity is the indirect protection from an infectious disease that happens when a population is immune either through vaccination or immunity developed through previous infection.

Elaborating on “living with the virus”, Lee said this is a situation where those infected do not end up in hospitals, do not need a ventilator, and do not die as a result of the infection.

“We are most likely not able to get rid of the virus, so we live with it by adjusting our lifestyles,” he said.

Malaysian Medical Association president Dr Koh Kar Chai also believes that people are already accepting the fact that they have to live with Covid-19.

He also agreed that there is some degree of complacency among the public when it comes to following SOPs.

This mentality should be corrected, he said, as people must not only think of themselves but need to look at protecting the vulnerable.

“The notion that a person would likely experience mild symptoms if infected because they have received full vaccination and a booster, needs to be corrected.

“We need to protect the vulnerable which can be at high risk of hospitalisation and even death. Now is not the time to let our guard down,” he said.

Don’t rush

While most countries are ending coronavirus restrictions, former health minister Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad said that Malaysia must not rush to join the bandwagon.

“People will reach a critical point where they would seem to think that there is no end to the pandemic, so might as well just embrace and let whatever happens take its course.

“This is where the government, especially public health, must play its most important role. Pandemic recovery is an ongoing, long-term tedious process that needs to be addressed in a holistic manner.

“So, we should not (rush into easing restrictions like other countries).

“We should go with data and science. We must ensure that we do not allow what happened in the start to happen again – lockdown for example,” he said.

The same Covid-19 SOP should also be used as a precautionary measure to handle other emerging respiratory diseases, Dzulkefly added.

“With emerging respiratory diseases, why not continue the good practice of masks, physical distancing and hand hygiene.

“Let’s not only control Covid-19 but also the next emerging respiratory diseases,” he said. – February 25, 2022.