JULY 9 ― The previous wave with Omicron BA.1 and BA.2 came and gone from February to May 2022.
The caseloads peaked at 32,800 on Mac 11 2022. The lowest daily case number was 922 on May 3 and the daily cases were fluctuating below 2,000 until June 21, 2022.
Since then, our daily cases were hovering below 3,000 cases until July 7 2022 with a total of 4020 cases reported. The total cases had increased almost 30 per cent in the past week.
The World Health Organization reported that by the end of June, new weekly cases were up by 32 per cent in Southeast Asia, 33 per cent in Europe and 47 per cent in the region comprising the Middle East, Central Asia, North Africa and the Horn of Africa.
As of June 19, Omicron BA.5 accounted for 43 per cent of Omicron cases worldwide, while Omicron BA.4 accounted for 12 per cent.
Both the Minister of Health and Director General, Ministry of Health; warned us to be prepared for a new wave and that Omicron BA.5 has invaded our country and probably a high number of cases are from the Omicron BA.5.
According to the researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, BA.5 is able to escape the antibody responses among people who had previous Covid-19 infection and those who have been fully vaccinated and boosted.
Reinfections may be inevitable until we have new vaccines that could prevent transmission effectively.
However, the current Covid-19 vaccination is still expected to provide substantial protection against severe diseases.
In addition, BA.4 and BA.5 do not seem to cause more severe symptoms compared to BA.1 and BA.2.
Moreover, vaccine manufacturers are working on updated vaccines that might elicit a stronger immune response against the new variants.
Hopefully, in the near future, there will be a new vaccine to prevent the transmission of Omicron variants.
So, what should the public do now?
Those eligible for vaccination, especially children aged 5 to 11 years, should get vaccinated.
Those who have not taken their booster shots (3rd dose) should get it as soon as possible. The elderly and high-risk groups should go for their second booster shot (4th dose). Vaccination may not be effective in the prevention of transmission, but it is effective in preventing severe symptoms, hospitalisation, and even death, especially among the elderly and high risks groups.
The public health measures such as wearing masks indoors, maintaining hand hygiene, avoiding crowded and poorly ventilated areas, and self-testing before joining any family/group activities should be practiced in order to reduce or stop the transmission of this highly infectious BA.5 variant.
We should not have the impression that it is fine to get infected if the disease is mild. We must not forget that even mild Covid-19 patients may suffer post-Covid condition or Long Covid.
In addition, there is new evidence from the US showing that compared with those with just one Covid-19 infection, those with two or more documented infections had more than twice the risk of dying and three times the risk of being hospitalised within six months of their last infection.
They also had higher risks for lung and heart problems, fatigue, digestive and kidney disorders, diabetes, and neurologic problems.
Let us all remain vigilant to stay safe and healthy in the coming Covid-19 wave.
* Professor Dr Moy Foong Ming is a professor at the Department of Social & Preventive Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya.
** This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of Malay Mail.
