diff --git a/include/MySQL_HostGroups_Manager.h b/include/MySQL_HostGroups_Manager.h
index 6d14670b7..b5d3cb854 100644
--- a/include/MySQL_HostGroups_Manager.h
+++ b/include/MySQL_HostGroups_Manager.h
@@ -972,7 +972,9 @@ class MySQL_HostGroups_Manager {
 	void init();
 	void wrlock();
 	void wrunlock();
-	bool is_locked = false; // will be removed after testing
+#ifdef DEBUG
+	bool is_locked = false;
+#endif
 	int servers_add(SQLite3_result *resultset);
 	/**
 	 * @brief Generates a new global checksum for module 'mysql_servers_v2' using the provided hash.
diff --git a/lib/MyHGC.cpp b/lib/MyHGC.cpp
index bc347af9c..72dd3f564 100644
--- a/lib/MyHGC.cpp
+++ b/lib/MyHGC.cpp
@@ -392,9 +392,9 @@ MySrvC *MyHGC::get_random_MySrvC(char * gtid_uuid, uint64_t gtid_trxid, int max_
 void MyHGC::refresh_online_server_count() {
 	if (__sync_fetch_and_add(&glovars.shutdown, 0) != 0)
 		return;
-
+#ifdef DEBUG
 	assert(MyHGM->is_locked);
-
+#endif
 	unsigned int online_servers_count = 0;
 	for (unsigned int i = 0; i < mysrvs->servers->len; i++) {
 		MySrvC* mysrvc = (MySrvC*)mysrvs->servers->index(i);
diff --git a/lib/MySQL_HostGroups_Manager.cpp b/lib/MySQL_HostGroups_Manager.cpp
index eb7705e99..9dae056eb 100644
--- a/lib/MySQL_HostGroups_Manager.cpp
+++ b/lib/MySQL_HostGroups_Manager.cpp
@@ -724,7 +724,9 @@ void MySQL_HostGroups_Manager::wrlock() {
 #else
 	spin_wrlock(&rwlock);
 #endif
+#ifdef DEBUG
 	is_locked = true;
+#endif
 }
 
 void MySQL_HostGroups_Manager::p_update_mysql_error_counter(p_mysql_error_type err_type, unsigned int hid, char* address, uint16_t port, unsigned int code) {
@@ -759,7 +761,9 @@ void MySQL_HostGroups_Manager::p_update_mysql_error_counter(p_mysql_error_type e
 }
 
 void MySQL_HostGroups_Manager::wrunlock() {
+#ifdef DEBUG
 	is_locked = false;
+#endif
 #ifdef MHM_PTHREAD_MUTEX
 	pthread_mutex_unlock(&lock);
 #else