By Nazrinzulaiqa Hasbi & Umie Syazwanie Mohd
KUCHING: Diseases that reach endemic stage will become more predictable which will also make it relatively easier to handle, said Dr Siti Fairouz Ibrahim.
“In a pandemic phase, there will be a large-scale social disruption, economic loss, and general hardship resulting in scientists, health personals, leaders, etc having to make quick decisions based on limited data (which is very dynamic and fluid).
“When an infectious disease reaches an endemic stage, the disease transmission and rates become more predictable making it relatively easier to handle,” said the medical microbiologist of Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas).
She said, a pandemic is an infectious disease that covers a wide area affecting many countries or regions and a large number of people will be infected, like Covid-19.
On the other hand, endemic is an infectious disease outbreak that is consistently present but limited to a particular region or country, such as malaria and dengue.
Malaysia will start treating Covid-19 as an endemic disease around the end of October and the approach should not be viewed as admitting defeat to the pandemic but as adapting to it.
