KLANG: No one ought to deliberately get contaminated with the Covid-19 Omicron variant for the sake of herd immunity as it’s not a confirmed strategy, says the Health Minister.
Khairy Jamaluddin stated regardless of the variant showing to have milder signs and being much less lethal, this was no purpose for anybody to get contaminated or refuse a Covid-19 vaccine booster dose.
“It doesn’t matter what sort of variant – Omicron, Delta, Alpha or Beta. Don’t go voluntarily looking to get infected.
“We don’t know what the effects of the virus will be on a patient, whether one is vaccinated or not, or what the ‘Long Covid’ syndrome is going to be like.
“There’s still no scientific proof to say that getting infected with the Omicron variant will give us herd immunity.
“We know Omicron is milder, thank God, but it doesn’t mean we should go out there and get infected,” he reiterated, advising the folks to get their booster dose for the very best safety.
“Long Covid” refers to a wide range of signs skilled by some sufferers lengthy after the everyday convalescence interval. These embody excessive fatigue, persistent cough, muscle weak point, reminiscence lapses, temper modifications, sleeping problem, complications, joint ache and others.
Speaking to reporters after opening the national-level GO-NGO Model KK 2.0 programme to finish HIV infections on the Pandamaran well being clinic right here yesterday, Khairy stated immunity developed from any pure Covid-19 an infection shouldn’t be the premise to get contaminated, describing it as “very silly” to do.
“The ministry’s message is simple: you do not want to catch Covid-19. Regardless of what variant it is, don’t catch the virus intentionally,” he stated when requested about South African virologists’ assertion that Omicron’s excessive transmissibility and but milder signs and decrease mortality charges might assist construct herd immunity.
Khairy stated the ministry anticipated a rise in Covid-19 circumstances in January and February with the year-end vacation journey and extra motion due to Thaipusam and Chinese New Year.
However, he stated so long as hospital and intensive care unit admissions have been below management and the demise charge continued to dip, “we are in control”.
“We cannot just look at daily cases, but also the other indicators. We need to look at the severity and hospital admissions. We are not out of the woods yet,” he added.
He stated Malaysia has made quite a lot of progress since final yr, therefore “some freedom” was correct for all to look at their celebrations in a secure and cautious method whereas adhering to the usual working process.
“Almost 99% of our Omicron cases are in Category 1, so we’re monitoring closely,” he stated, including that 2022 was about transferring duties to empower the group.
The GO-NGO Model KK 2.0 programme is a collaboration between the federal government and NGOs utilizing authorities well being clinics nationwide to succeed in out to and rehabilitate HIV sufferers.
Khairy stated he hoped that with the programme being expanded nationwide, extra folks with HIV infections would step ahead for remedy.
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