MOH: Too soon to ease restrictions

 

Better safe than sorry: Tan Swee Kim, 27, wearing an extra layer of protection while waiting to get his second dose of vaccine at IDCC PPV in Shah Alam. — GLENN GUAN/The Star

PUTRAJAYA: The Health Ministry will only recommend easing Covid-19 restrictions if more people are vaccinated and the standard operating procedure such as mask-wearing is maintained, even for those who are fully vaccinated.

Deputy Health director-general (Research and Technical Support) Datuk Dr Hishamshah Mohd Ibrahim said there are lessons to be learnt from the experiences of countries that are seeing a rise in Covid-19 cases after loosening restrictions.

“We saw how countries like the United Kingdom, Israel and others in Europe have eased restrictions after achieving a high vaccination rate. But now, they are seeing an increase in infections.

“In hindsight, they may have allowed these relaxations too early.

“Although it’s true that being fully vaccinated means you are protected from serious Covid-19, we should not remove restrictions hastily.

“The ministry is cautious about this. Currently, the decision is being discussed by the higher-ups in government,” said Dr Hishamshah at a press conference held at the ministry yesterday.

On Thursday, Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said the government will announce the relaxation of Covid-19 curbs for the fully vaccinated “within the next few days”.

Dr Hishamshah said getting more people vaccinated should be the main priority.

Currently, about 46% of the population have received at least one dose while 24.5% are fully vaccinated.

“If we can get 80%, that would be great. Or 40% to 50% would be good too. This will prevent a surge in cases,” he added.

Fundamental Covid-19 preventive measures such as mask-wearing and physical distancing must still remain, he said.

“The Covid-19 variants that are dominant right now are more transmissible and highly contagious.

“So we need to still be wearing face masks and practise physical distancing. Gatherings of large crowds should not be allowed. These SOPs must remain applicable,” said Dr Hishamshah.

He said based on genome sequencing conducted by the Institute for Medical Research (IMR), the Delta variant is the dominant strain of Covid-19 in Malaysia.

The highly contagious variant is a major factor for the rise in Covid-19 cases in the country, he added.

“Previously, the Wuhan strain had an infectivity rate of Rt 2 or 2.5. The Delta, meanwhile, is 5 to 8.

“So to flatten the infection curve, it will take time and it is done differently,” he said.

Dr Hishamshah said Labuan and Sarawak are proof that a high vaccination rate will reduce the number of serious Covid-19 cases.

“The number of hospitalisation, ICU admissions and Covid-19 deaths have shown a significant drop in Labuan and Sarawak.

“If the same vaccination rates are applied in Semenanjung Malaysia, we will also see a decrease here.

“The number of new cases may take a while to go down, but most importantly, we reduce the number of serious Covid-19 cases at hospitals,” Dr Hishamshah said.

He added that only 1.9% of the country’s daily cases are those in the more severe categories 3, 4 and 5. - Star