THE new and potentially more contagious Covid-19 variant, Omicron (B.1.1.529), could "already be here" or is "near to us", but little is known about it, says an expert.
He said while travel restrictions on the affected southern African countries and other nations might buy Malaysia time to prepare itself, especially in terms of boosting genomic surveillance and increasing standard operating procedure compliance, it was not a feasible long-term solution.
Monash University Malaysia's molecular virologist Dr Vinod Balasubramaniam said the variant could be introduced by other means, including through supply chains.
"When the Delta strain was initially discovered, it was found in 53 countries within three weeks, clearly indicating that blanket closure of borders is not the most sustainable way to counter this.
"It is too late to impose a blanket closure of borders as it will do more harm than good in the long run as Omicron has probably reached the borders of many countries.
"Chances are it is already here or near us. In a recent case in Belgium, for example, the infected patient didn't have any travel history to Africa," he told the New Straits Times.
Omicron was first reported to the World Health Organisation (WHO) from South Africa on Nov 24 and had been discovered in other countries outside Africa, including Belgium, Hong Kong, Britain, Germany, Italy and Israel.
Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin had, on Nov 26, said travellers with a 14-day travel
history to Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe would no longer be allowed to enter Malaysia.
Dr Vinod said the long-term solution would be to assist countries, such as those in southern Africa, which have extremely low vaccination rates, vaccine rollout and medical supplies.
He said while boosting the vaccination rate, enhancing SOP and genomic surveillance were the way forward, it was too early to be certain whether Omicron could evade vaccine immunity.
"The WHO says it will take a few weeks to understand Omicron's impact.
"Scientists have said it is the most mutated version yet, which means vaccines designed using the original strain from Wuhan, China, may not be as effective (this is speculative as there
is yet no experimental data on
it).
"There is speculation floating around Omicron's origin, with the possibility that it had likely evolved during a chronic infection of an immuno-compromised person, possibly in an untreated HIV patient."
Dr Vinod said mRNA vaccines, such as Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna, were likely adaptable against most variants.
"For now, it is best to get both jabs and booster doses if you are eligible. Wear face masks, avoid attending large gatherings, practise good hand hygiene, ensure physical distancing, as well as rooms are well ventilated."
Virologist Associate Professor Dr Chee Hui Yee said the government should extend the 14-day quarantine period for travellers from all countries, including Malaysian returnees and permanent residents.
"The number of RT-PCR tests performed during quarantine (during arrival and before the end of quarantine period) should be increased. The virus travels faster than we think and more countries have detected the variant."
Dr Chee said Omicron had about 50 mutations and 32 mutations were found to be at the S protein.
"Some mutations have been found in Alpha and Delta. Research is ongoing and preliminary evidence suggests an increased risk of reinfection (on people previously infected with other variants).
"To quickly identify Omicron, a RT-PCR test kit, which is unable to detect the S gene out of the three target genes for the kit, can be used as a marker for this variant. Waiting for the whole genome sequencing for final confirmation could take a longer time.
"With this approach, we can implement proper public health and social measures immediately to prevent the spread of Omicron into the community. We need more data to understand the outcome of the infection of this variant."
Dr Chee said since the mutations were mainly on the S protein, the companies that produced vaccines targeting the S protein must quickly evaluate their vaccine effectiveness against Omicron.