The complaints of people infected with the Omikron variant of the coronavirus are mainly mild in nature. Both Covid advisors from the South African government and the doctor in the city of Pretoria who first raised the alarm about the new variant come to this conclusion.
“The infections that have occurred so far have all been mild cases, mild to moderate cases. And that’s a good sign,” says virologist Barry Schoub at the BBC. He is chief advisor to the vaccination program in South Africa.
Schoub also states that the Omikron variant may be less “fit” than the Delta variant due to its mutations. The virologist therefore hopes that it will not replace the Delta variant, because “we know that Delta responds very well to the vaccines”.
In the British newspaper The Telegraph, South African doctor Angelique Coetzee calls the symptoms of the Omikron variant “different and so mild” compared to other variants. She was one of the first to deal with the new variant in her practice in Pretoria.
Coetzee says several healthy young men came to see her who felt very tired. None of them had any loss of taste or smell, she said, and about half had been vaccinated, the doctor said. “What we’re seeing clinically in South Africa — and remember, I’m in the epicenter, which is where I work — is extremely mild.”
She says that she has not yet had anyone hospitalized with complaints of the Omikron variant. “I spoke to colleagues of mine: the same picture,” said Coetzee. She finds the international reaction panicky for the time being, but also says that the situation may be different in a few weeks.
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