When China first announced its reopening of borders, the news was met with mixed reactions.

The ones who prioritized livelihood looked forward to it as it would give our economy the recovery it needed, and allow for those who had lost their jobs during the pandemic to feed their families again. Others were more cautious as they did not know if this might cause an increase in cases.

So, what does China’s reopening actually mean to us here in USM?

The two main variants driving the cases in China are BA.5.2 and BF.7.

BA.5.2 which was first detected in Malaysia around March of last year has been circulating for a long time and thus, it is highly likely that most Malaysians have developed immunity against it.

BF.7, a sub-lineage of omicron BA.5 was first detected in Malaysia in August 2022 in Selangor, Pahang and Malacca.

As we did not see an exponential increase in cases then, it is unlikely that the same sub-variants would pose a threat to us now.

This leads to two questions – i) Should we not be concerned about BF.7 though China reported almost 60,000 deaths in the past month? ii) How sure are we that there may not be other variants that have not been reported that may have a larger consequence on us?

Reports from China indicate BF.7 has a very high transmission rate, with the R-naught (how contagious an infectious disease is) being more than 10, (the average R-naught of other Omicron variants are around 5).

However, BF.7's high R0 in China might be due to a lower level of immunity there. There is also no indication of increased severity with BF.7 in comparison to other variants.

With natural immunity gained from past infections and higher vaccination rates, Malaysia’s situation is different.

BF.7 has also been reported in more than 90 countries. Since it is so wide-spread, China’s reopening is no different. We should however mentally prepare ourselves that there will continuously be new variants, most of which will probably have immune-evading abilities.

A variant to keep a lookout for that has yet to hit our shores is XBB.1.5. Known as the most transmissible variant yet, it currently makes up about 40% of the infections in the US, has been increasing in the UK, and is extremely immune evasive.

Should we be worrying about XBB.1.5 then? No. Those who are concerned about immune-evading variants can rest assured our existing vaccines and boosters still provide protection.

As immunity wanes over time, those who have not received their second boosters should do so. This not only benefits us, but our loved ones too. Practices such as masking, testing, and good hygiene are also simple steps we can take that would serve as an added protection, especially in large group settings such as classes.

For those still concerned, our health ministry has been actively performing temperature checks upon arrival, as well as an RTK test for those with a travel history to China, and PCR tests and genome sequencing on sewage samples from flights from China.

These measures and increased surveillance are timely, and enable early detection of cases abroad. Concurrently, the World Health Organization (WHO) is monitoring the global situation.

Closer to home, the Disaster Management Centre (a.k.a. Nerve Centre) is doing an amazing job of keeping everyone in USM safe.

What we are seeing globally is unlike the start of the pandemic where the whole world saw waves of the same variant.

Currently, different regions are battling different variants, each more immune evasive than the next.

However, with vaccinations, we are in a more secure place compared to early 2020. We are also wiser from the three years of experience we have had. With each of us playing our part, perhaps before we know it, the pandemic may be over.

Before I end, a bit of optimistic news.

For those curious, since China’s reopening, we have seen a drop in cases in Malaysia. While that does not mean we should let our guards down, hopefully, that will let you breathe in relief.

Happy Lunar New Year and happy holidays all.

 

Article contributed by: Dr. Kumitaa Theva Das, University lecturer, Infectomics Cluster Advanced Medical and Dental Institute (IPPT), Universiti Sains Malaysia