The warning signs were there since December when the Health Ministry noted Omicron is already in the community and warned the public to be cautious as the spread of the new variant is extremely quick and that number of cases will soon increase.
With months of daily cases hovering in the 2,000-3,000 region, infected cases suddenly shot off to 5,000, then 7,000, and now hitting the 10,000 mark all in the space of one week. In a tweet recently, Minister Khairy Jamaluddin has declared Malaysia being fully hit by the COVID-19 Omicron variant wave now.
The Minister had also stated that Malaysians can expect to see cases going beyond 15,000 in the coming days. While studies report the Omicron variant being less harmful than its cousin Delta, the Covid-19 virus can still cause damage especially to those in the vulnerable category. That is why the call for vaccination and booster shots should not be disregarded, in fact, the jabs are known to protect and even save lives.
Khairy advises the public to get their booster shots and don’t delay their appointments, he added, “there are still one million senior citizens in the country who have not received a booster dose. Please inform your beloved parents to get a booster dose immediately,”. Booster shots have proven to reduce the severity of symptoms and prevent hospitalisation or ICU admission. Studies on infected patients have shown that those vaccinated once infected by Omicron usually recover within a day or two due to the immune system’s ability to fight the virus.
Malaysia’s cumulative Covid-19 cases reach close to 10% of the total population at 2.9 million, however, recovery is also high at 2.8 million.
