Patients with Omicron variant show 'very mild' symptoms with no loss of taste or smell, says South African doctor

Dr. Angelique Coetzee, a private practitioner and chair of the South African Medical Association, told Reuters that on November 18 she noticed seven patients at her clinic who had symptoms different from the dominant Delta variant, albeit "very mild".

Johannesburg: A South African doctor who was one of the first to suspect a different coronavirus strain among patients said on Sunday that symptoms of the Omicron variant were so far mild and could be treated at home.

Dr. Angelique Coetzee, a private practitioner and chair of the South African Medical Association, told Reuters that on November 18 she noticed seven patients at her clinic who had symptoms different from the dominant Delta variant, albeit "very mild".

Now designated Omicron by the World Health Organization, the variant was detected and announced by South Africa`s National Institute of Communicable Diseases (NICD) on November 25 from samples taken from a laboratory from Nov. 14 to November 16.