MALAYSIA cannot jump the gun and proclaim that Covid-19 is endemic in the country until the World Health Organisation (WHO) declares that the pandemic has come to an end, former deputy health minister Dr Lee Boon Chye said. 

He said that it made no sense to announce that Covid-19 had become endemic locally when a pandemic was still raging in other parts of the world. 

“It is not endemic until the WHO says that the pandemic has ended,” Lee told The Malaysian Insight. 

A disease outbreak is considered endemic when it is consistently present but limited to a particular region, making its spread predictable. Malaria, for example, is considered endemic in certain countries and regions. 

Dr Lee expected the United Nations agency to monitor the Covid-19 situation past the winter season in the Northern Hemisphere before it made any decision. 

“I would expect that we need to go through winter, after this we will know whether or not there is another surge. 

“After winter, if things get better and there is no resurgence, that will be the earliest the WHO will announce the end to the pandemic,” he said. 

He said that even if Malaysia jumped the gun ahead of the WHO announcement, it would be meaningless. 

“It is meaningless (to say it is endemic now). If you say that you are endemic but the world is still having a pandemic, it doesn’t make sense.” 

In April, the WHO said Covid-19 was far from becoming an endemic disease and could still trigger large outbreaks around the globe. 

WHO Health Emergencies Programme Director Michael Ryan said that it was wrong to think that if Covid-19 settled down and became endemic, it would mean the end of the problem. 

Ryan said that the coronavirus had not yet settled into any seasonal or transmission pattern, and remained capable of causing huge epidemics. 

On April 1, Malaysia transitioned to treating Covid-19 as endemic, resulting in the relaxation of some pandemic rules on masking and business operating hours, and the reopening of the country’s international borders. 

Health minister Khairy Jamaluddin said the country was guided by three considerations before it could treat Covid-19 as endemic: a declaration from the WHO, an end to the enforcement of the Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases Act 1988 (Act 342), and the views of epidemiologists and infectious diseases experts.  

Health indicators positive 

Other health experts said that given the health indicators in the country and the fact that almost all standard operating procedures (SOP) had been scrapped, Malaysia could move on to the endemic phase. 

Universiti Putra Malaysia’s epidemiologist and public health expert Associate Professor Dr Malina Osman said Malaysia’s Covid-19 situation was well controlled and there was no indication that it was worsening. 

“All parameters on pandemic management are within the range which are manageable by our healthcare system,” she said. 

“Following the ease of SOP recently on wearing masks indoors, it has shown no threat of an impending new wave. In my opinion, the MOH can declare Covid-19 as endemic soon.” 

Public health expert Dr Zainal Ariffin Omar also agreed with Malina’s assessment. 

“Indicators should be based on a continuous downward or a low plateau trend of cases, admissions, and deaths nationally,” he said. 

The above indicators, coupled with high vaccination coverage, put Malaysia in a good position, Zainal said. 

“I think Malaysia is ready to go for an endemic phase anytime now.” 

Between September 3 and 15, Malaysia’s daily cases remained below 2,500.  

The CovidNow website showed that between September 16 and 20, daily figures continued on a downward trend.  

To date, 98.2% of adults, 92.3% of adolescents, 93.6% of the elderly and 43.2% of children have been fully vaccinated.

Based on population, the rate is 84.2%. 

Nationwide, hospital bed utilisation stood at 73% while intensive care (ICU) usage stood at 63%. – September 22, 2022.