KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 10 — Malaysian Health Coalition (MHC) urged the government to come up with a plan to combat the surge of Covid-19 cases due to the highly transmissible Omicron variant.

In a statement today, the coalition of 26 health associations highlighted three main suggestions which included accelerating non-mandatory vaccination programmes for children, amplifying local Covid-19 genomic surveillance, and increasing the availability of antiviral drugs.

"Although Omicron is less deadly than Delta, there is still a significant risk to vulnerable populations, the unvaccinated or the unboosted.

"We urge the public and the government to take Omicron seriously and strengthen their two-way communication to ensure the public follows relevant SOPs and the TRIIS framework of the Health Ministry (Test, Report, Isolate, Inform and Seek Help),” it said.

The coalition noted the need to reduce the interval between two doses administered from eight weeks to three weeks for children with comorbidities — while increasing the awareness to parents to increase confidence in the Covid-19 vaccine.

It also mentioned that the government needs to invest in outsourcing genomic surveillance to private laboratories and build meaningful collaborations among the Institute of Medical Research (IMR) and University laboratories to boost whole-genome sequencing (WGS) capacity and identify Omicron cases, as well as other emerging variants.

MHS also urged the government to follow clinical guidelines to decide which doctor should prescribe and which patient should receive these expensive antiviral drugs — while also not discriminating against the poor or those in rural areas.

Three days ago, Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin said that the Omicron wave that has officially hit Malaysia is expected to peak at the end of March.

He said that this was the MoH’s best estimation to date as it continues to monitor the rise in Covid-19 cases.

Last week, Khairy also reminded the public that the severity of Covid-19 cases in Malaysia is currently the prime concern for MoH following the emergence of the Omicron variant, rather than the number of daily infections.

He added that hospital admissions, intensive care unit (ICU) cases, and fatality index are the main indicators to decide whether more public health regulations will be eased up in the future.

The MHC is a coalition of over 70 organisations and individuals representing health professionals in Malaysia.