Omicron Mutation: Top South African doctor reports for recovery of patients without treatment

A South African doctor who has treated about 30 patients carrying the new Omicron variant of the coronavirus, says that, so far, he has observed patients recovering without the need for hospitalization.

About ten days later, Angelique Katzi, who is also president of the South African Medical Association, received these patients with a positive coronavirus test but with unusual symptoms.

“What brought them to my office in Pretoria is the feeling of overwork,” she told AFP.

The majority of them were men under 40 years old. Slightly less than half were vaccinated.

In addition to the fatigue, they suffered from myalgias, had a cough or itching in the throat, she says.

Only a few had a low-grade fever.

Dr. Ketzi informed the health authorities on November 18 about “a clinical picture that does not refer to the Delta variant”, ie the dominant variant in South Africa.

She says we know very little about this variant, which the WHO described as “worrying”.

“I’m not saying it won’t be a serious illness, but for now, even the patients we saw who were not vaccinated had mild symptoms,” he said.

“I’m convinced that a lot of people in Europe are infected with this variant, but this variant was only recently identified because it did not show the symptoms of Delta.”

Many countries have already reported cases of Omicron, such as Belgium, Britain, the Netherlands, Denmark and Germany.

About three-quarters of the recent coronavirus cases in South Africa carry the Omicron variant.

However, this number remains low as in recent days about 3,000 new cases have been recorded in the country.