Better to be safe: Visitors at the Penang Hill funicular train station keeping their face masks on in George Town, Penang. — LIM BENG TATT/The Star
GEORGE TOWN: Although the Covid-19 global emergency has been declared over, experts have warned Malaysians to be on guard for future outbreaks and to continue to mask up in public as new infections are slowly rising.
Infections in Malaysia went up by 3% from 4,817 to 4,963 cases during epidemiological week (ME17) between April 23-29 even as the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared an end to the three-year public health emergency.
Despite the rise in cases, Universiti Sains Malaysia virologist Dr Kumitaa Theva Das said the situation was still very much under control so long as everyone continued to wear masks in enclosed spaces.
“Looking at the 14-day period, we do see some states recording a rise in cases, such as Johor, Kedah and Sarawak. But we also see an almost equal number of states such as Melaka, Perak and Sabah with a decline in cases ,” she told The Star.
Dr Kumitaa said when the Delta variant led to a wave of infections in 2021, there were a high number of hospitalisations, ICU cases and deaths.
But now, the number of such severe cases have gone down due to the high rate of vaccination and people taking booster shots.
“Masking also helps tremendously and is one of the easiest and cheapest ways to protect ourselves,” she said, adding that Malaysians should adapt to living with the virus.
The senior lecturer advised the public to get tested early once Covid-19 symptoms develop and to stay at home if one tests positive for the virus.
On May 5, Health director-general Datuk Dr Muhammad Radzi Abu Hassan had said that data from the Health Ministry’s Crisis Preparedness and Response Centre (CPRC), showed that the number of Covid-19 admissions to public health facilities had increased from 4.8% per 100,000 population to 5.8%.
Echoing Dr Kumitaa’s points, Penang Hospital infectious disease unit head Datuk Dr Chow Ting Soo advised those in the high-risk group to self-test as early as possible and to take anti-viral medicines as a precaution once they start feeling unwell.
“The high-risk group should also get a second booster to prevent any infections from turning more severe,” Dr Chow told The Star.
Universiti Malaya Emeritus Professor Datuk Dr Lam Sai Kit, who is a member of an international Covid-19 task force, said: “After three long years of the pandemic, and with the decrease in cases and severity over the last year, it is time for life to return to normal.
“As a matter of fact, Malaysia adopted the stand that the Covid-19 pandemic would transition into the endemic phase from April 1, 2022, a year before the WHO Declaration last Friday,” Dr Lam said in a statement.
“What is important now is to review how the world handled the pandemic at the global level, and the many lessons that can help us face the next pandemic.”
On whether China had been fully transparent in sharing data about the early days of the outbreak in Dec 2019, Dr Lam said this issue had been politicised and was now considered academic.
“The lesson we should learn is that speed is of the essence in the sharing of information as we now live in a borderless world, where an outbreak in one country can turn into a pandemic in a matter of weeks and months.”
Dr Lam said the virus was going to be with us for a long time just like dengue and influenza.
“We must learn to live with it. Variants will arise from time to time, but we now have better knowledge and tools to handle future outbreaks. While we continue to battle Covid-19, we must prepare for the next one.”
