A South African doctor, who was one of the first to raise the alarm over the Omicron variant has described the COVID-19 symptoms linked to this new strain as “mild”, but it’s still too early to say for sure.
According to CNBC, the World Health Organization (WHO) said it will take weeks to understand how the variant may affect diagnostics, therapeutics and vaccines.
Dr. Angelique Coetzee, chair of the South African Medical Association, told BBC that symptoms differed slightly from those associated with the Delta variant, which is a globally dominant and highly contagious strain of the virus.
“It actually started with a male patient who’s around the age of 33 … and he said to me that he’s just [been] extremely tired for the past few days and he’s got these body aches and pains with a bit of a headache,” Coetzee told the BBC.
The patient had a scratchy throat instead of a sore throat, with no symptoms of coughing or loss of smell or taste (which are symptoms associated with previous strains of the virus).
Other patients who Coetzee has observed have also experienced “mild” symptoms that did not require hospitalisation. However, her initial observations are based on a small number of cases and experts are concerned about the large number of mutations.
Meanwhile, officials said that South Africa should be applauded for detecting the new Omicron variant, instead of being punished. This comes after the country was severely criticised while travel bans were imposed.
“Excellent science should be applauded and not punished,” a statement by the South African foreign ministry said.
In the same vein, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa called on countries to “urgently” reverse “scientifically unjustified” travel restrictions linked to the discovery of the Omicron variant.
“These restrictions are unjustified and unfairly discriminate against our country and our southern African sister countries,” he said during his address on Sunday.
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