PETALING JAYA: Covid-19 reinfection cases were almost seven times higher during the Omicron wave than the Delta wave, says Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.
“The cumulative number of Covid-19 reinfection cases from Feb 18 to Aug 6 is about 18,799 cases,” he told The Star.
The first Omicron case was detected in Malaysia in December last year. In January, Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin said the Omicron wave had begun in Malaysia.
Citing the ministry’s data, Dr Noor Hisham said 64% of reinfections occurred after six months of the first infection.
“Reinfection with the virus that causes Covid-19 means a person was infected, recovered, and then later became infected again.”
A second infection is considered “reinfection” when the duration between the first and second infection is more than three months.
“Research shows that recovered Covid-19 patients can be reinfected, as is common with other viruses too,” he added.
Dr Noor Hisham noted that the causes and risk factors of reinfection are not fully understood.
However, the waning of immunity that people gained through natural infection or vaccination and the emergence of the new variants may circumvent the immune protection,” he said.
“A previous SARS-CoV-2 infection provides high protection against reinfection with variants of concern (VOCs) such as Alpha and Delta, which have limited immune escape,” he added.
According to Dr Noor Hisham, Malaysia currently reports 3,000 to 5,000 Covid-19 cases. However, hospital admissions have remained stable with no significant increase.
He added that the health system’s capacity is sufficient to cope with the current situation of Covid-19.
He said the best way to fend off reinfection is the same way we avoid infection in the first place.
He reminded people to “wash their hands often, wear a mask indoors and in crowded places, avoid sick people and, most importantly, get vaccinated and boosted even if you’ve already had Covid-19,” he said.
On Wednesday, Malaysia recorded 4,896 new Covid-19 cases, bringing the total number of cases in the country to 4,719,394 infections since the pandemic began.
The Health Ministry’s CovidNow portal reported that 4,894 of Wednesday’s new Covid-19 cases were local transmissions, while two imported infections were logged.
There were 2,979 recoveries on Wednesday, bringing Malaysia’s cumulative number of recoveries to 4,638,716.
The portal reported there were 44,622 active cases in the country, with 42,942, or 96.2%, observing home quarantine and 35 individuals, or 0.1%, admitted to low-risk quarantine and treatment centres.