The first South African physician to raise the alarm over the new COVID-19 variant in South Africa called its symptoms unusual but mild, according to The Telegraph.
The newly found variant, named Omicron and classified as a "variant of concern" by the World Health Organization (WHO), sparked a selloff in financial markets on Friday and triggered stricter travel restrictions across the globe.
Early this month, South African doctor Dr. Angelique Coetzee was concerned over a potential new variant after COVID-19 patients turned up at her private practice in Pretoria with symptoms that did not make sense initially.
“Their symptoms were so different and so mild from those I had treated before,” remarked Dr. Coetzee, who is also the chairwoman of the South African Medical Association, adding that none of the patients had experienced a loss of taste or smell.
While there were about two dozen COVID-19 positive cases with symptoms of the new variant, many of the patients were healthy young men who showed up “feeling so tired.” About half of them were unvaccinated, Dr. Coetzee added.