The public and country must continue to remain vigilant and do more to protect themselves against Covid-19

The public and country must continue to remain vigilant and do more to protect themselves against Covid-19, in view of the surge of Covid-19 cases caused by the highly transmissible Omicron subvariant known as BA.5 which has fueled a new wave of infections, re-infections and hospitalizations across the country.

Omicron BA.5 is the most easily spread version of the Covid-19 virus to date (compared with previous Omicron variants, namely BA.1 and BA.2). On top of that BA.5 is particularly good at evading the immune protection afforded either by vaccination or prior infection.

For this reason, for many people, this means they are getting re-infected, often even a short time after having Covid-19.

According to cumulative data from the Ministry of Health (MOH), Covid reinfections during the Omicron wave are 6.3 times higher compared to reinfected cases reported during the Delta wave. The Omicron wave has seen a total of 14,630 Covid reinfections versus 2,295 reinfected cases during the Delta wave, as of July 6.

The likelihood is this variant is the dominant sub-variant in our country already due to its infectivity.

In our country alone, new daily number reported for epidemiological week 27 (July 3 to 7) recorded an increase of 31%, from 11,394 to 14,967 cases, compared with the number of cases reported for the same period in epidemiological week 26 (June 26 to 30). This numbers are expect to increase and possibly peak in about 2-3 months.

These numbers of course do not yet paint the full picture as our limited genomic sequencing not showing true distribution of sub-variants in our country and there is a blind spot as people generally are also testing less now as they got use to life in the endemic.

However, if not taken seriously, rapidly spreading BA.5 variant could result in an increase in hospital admissions as seen in countries like Singapore, Portugal, and the United Kingdom.

That is why, i strongly believe we cannot afford to go back to the days of lockdowns and strict restrictions, but in order to do that, we must not let our guard down and continue to protect ourselves more.

The WHO said on Tuesday that the pandemic remains a global health emergency and countries should consider public health measures like masking and social distancing when cases surge, alongside vaccinations.

That is why I continue to encourage:

1. people to continue masking especially in places with crowds;
2. for those eligible to get themselves boosted and vaccinated;

Data on the new strains from Israel and the United States showed that individuals who have completed their primary vaccination and received two booster doses have a lower mortality rate compared to those who have taken only a single booster dose, especially in people aged 60 and above.

Those who have taken one booster dose also have a lower Covid mortality rate compared to individuals who have not been boosted or those who have yet to be vaccinated against Covid.

Based on recent data from the USA’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention(CDC) shows that a double booster decreases death up to 99% among those that are 50+ years old during the initial Omicron Wave. Single boosters reduce up to 86% and those vaccinated but not boosted also has a 81% reduced death rate.

3. The government must continue to strengthen our public health system in preparation of a possible surge and wave of cases in the near future.