News of a new, more transmissible variant Covid-19 has caused panic all over the worldwide once again.
As the omicron variant continues to spread, several countries have banned flights from South Africa and a few have prohibited flights from the whole of Africa.
The first case in Spain was confirmed on Monday and in a matter of weeks it’s expected to be the majority variant.
So what are the symptoms of omicron?
“The symptoms are unusual and mild. Extreme fatigue is the most palpable symptom in the cases identified so far,” says Public Health & Preventive Medicine Specialist, Joan Carles March. “People infected with Omicron do not suffer from loss of smell and taste, but there is an unusual increase in heart rate, high fever and muscle pain.”
“Patients diagnosed with omicron had a bit of a headache; a tickly throat that’s not sore and no cough and the symptoms disappeared in 2-5 days. The symptoms are mild and don’t usually require hospitalisation, but there is a more pronounced and serious potential danger of the disease amongst those who are not vaccinated,” said Dr March, who pointed out that these are the symptoms described by Dr Angelique Coetzee, President of the Medical Association of South Africa, who discovered the new variant.