‘Perghh it’s not a smartphone if there is a‘ special edition ’, the virus already has that version.’
Local medical experts anticipate the possibility that the new Omicron XE variant will arrive in Malaysia within another month and pose new dangers.
According to Universiti Putra Malaysia medical epidemiologist Malina Osman, even with the closure of the national border, the current Omicron variant could arrive in Malaysia within a month or two, so it is not surprising if the Omicron XE can arrive faster as it has been detected in the Thai border country. Taiwan and Britain.
He further explained that so far there is no indication that the Omicron XE variant causes severe infections like the Delta variant, but it is still at high risk for those who have not been vaccinated or who have never been infected before.
However, Professor Malina believes that the situation will be under control as Malaysia has good vaccination protection as well as strict adherence to protocols and movement measures to limit transmission.
Apart from that, the Chairman of Volunteers for Community Involvement and Empowerment For Covid-19, Zainal Ariffin Omar also predicted that the new variant will arrive in less than a month due to the reopening of the country's borders.
Summary of Omicron XE, it was first detected in Britain on January 19 last through mutations of Omicron BA.1 and BA.2 variants which are said to be 10% more contagious than the current variant.
For now there is still much unknown about the Omicron XE variant in terms of its threats and whether existing vaccines are capable of fighting it or not.
For the record, when the Delta variant hit the country for the first time last July, daily cases had skyrocketed until Health Ministry Director -General Noor Hisham confirmed a total of 22,000 cases were recorded on August 25.
Then the same situation occurred involving the Omicron variant wave which was first detected in Malaysia on 2 December 2021.
