A top South African doctor who first sounded the alarm about the new high-infectious Omicron variant has described the symptoms as “unusual but mild”.
Dr Angelique Coetzee said she observed symptoms in a man on November 18 who presented with extreme fatigue, aches and pains and a slight headache, whose family members subsequently tested positive.
Speaking to Today, she said patients with the Omicron variant have generally less severe symptoms compared to previous strains of the virus.
“I am on an advisory committee for the vaccine and I alerted my team and said, 'Listen I have seen patients this morning with asymptomatic symptoms not the same as Delta. No loss of smell, no loss of taste, no stuffy nose, no cough, no fever'" she said.
“I saw patients for a whole 10 days with only two people with a fever and also their oxygen saturation was normal and that's it."
Dr Coetzee said she had spoken to other healthcare workers in her region who had also observed Covid-19 patients presenting with less severe symptoms than the Delta strain.
"We have easily treated them at home with no complications up until now," she said.
"They're all healthy. Some of them are going back to work tomorrow."
