In recent days, the Omicron variant of Covid-19 It has generated a lot of uncertainty worldwide. After it was detected in South Africa, Cases have also been found in 5 European countries, Hong Kong and the United States. Therefore, there are many doubts about whether it is more contagious than other variants, whether it is more dangerous and whether vaccines that already exist can neutralize it.
One of the most important topics is the one that talks about how to identify this variant of Covid-19. Specialist Angelique Coetzee, president of the South African Medical Association and the first to identify this variant, said that patients infected with the new variant have presented very mild symptoms.
“We have not hospitalized anyone yet. I have spoken with other colleagues and the picture is the same,” he said in a television interview. But he also talked about very specific symptoms that occur with Omicron.
Dr. Coetzee was the first to alert South African authorities to the possible existence of a new variant of the coronavirus. Laboratory tests confirmed that he was correct and the WHO declared it variant of concern.
What are the symptoms of Omicron?
Coetzee said the first case was detected on Nov. 18, in a 30-year-old patient who said he had been feeling tired and aching for a few days. “I had a bit of headache, he didn’t really have a sore throat, he described it rather as a itch, without cough or loss of taste or smell, “he added.
For that reason, the South African doctor decided to do studies and found unusual results. For that reason he explained that they are not very serious symptoms and that you can only feel a headache, some cut body and fatigue, for people who are infected with this variant.
The specialist said that it is for that reason that doctors could miss a contagion. While looking for symptoms of Delta variant, they could ignore others that are less noticeable or noisy.
This variant, which has already been classified as “Of concern” by the WHO, is being studied by scientists around the world, to find out if it can be more contagious or lethal than the previous ones and if it can escape the effect of the vaccines that exist against Covid-19.
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