Page 22 - THE COVID-19 CHRONICLES OF MALAYSIA Embracing Ripples: Coursing Forward

The Director-General of Health Malaysia
Malaysia welcomed 2022 with
caution as the world faced the
emergence of a new COVID-19
variant known as the Omicron. The
Ministry of Health monitored the
situation closely with the assistance
of multiple agencies, as the variant
had been found in several countries
worldwide.
In December 2021, the Institute for
Medical Research (IMR) genotyping
found 966 out of 1077 positive
samples from travellers were likely
Omicron variants. Notably, 77 % of
these cases were among Umrah
travellers.
Hence, the government swiftly
engaged in diplomatic efforts to
ensure the country's preparations to
deal with the Omicron variant,
strengthened travel surveillance,
increased testing, and improved
public health and hospital
preparedness to mitigate the effect
of the virus to protect the most
vulnerable populations.
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The Director-General of Health Malaysia
The Ministry staff’s resilience,
earnestness and sacrifice, along with
those from various other agencies, and
the amazing response from ordinary
Malaysians (towards ministry
initiatives) formed the basis of our
country’s success in continuously
controlling the COVID-19 outbreak.
- Tan Sri Dato' Seri Dr. Noor Hisham bin Abdullah
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Despite record-breaking daily new cases logged during the Omicron wave in the
year's first quarter, we observed significant 'decoupling effects' due to the
successful national COVID-19 vaccination programme. Hence, the number of
critical care admissions, cases requiring mechanical ventilation and deaths due
to COVID-19 was remarkably 80 to 90 per cent lower than during the Delta wave
in August 2021.
With the availability of COVID-19 antivirals and nationwide paediatric and
booster dose COVID-19 vaccination programme, the government can implement
strategies to ease the nation's transition into the endemic phase, permitting the
opening of international borders, safely reopening all sectors and relaxation of
the mask mandate and mass gathering. The transition into an endemic phase,
declared on the 1st of April 2022, enables a change from solitary dependence on
government interventions and a shift into shared responsibility by the individual
and community.
As Malaysia champions behavioural science on the international stage and at the
World Health Assembly, the nation stands in solidarity to empower individuals
and the community to identify and modify health behaviour, thus ensuring
resilience for this pandemic and future health crises. With "togetherness", we
embraced the worst of the pandemic, so let's begin to edge forward together to
better the nation's health.
Tan Sri Dato' Seri Dr. Noor Hisham bin Abdullah
Director-General of Health Malaysia