TEMPO.CO, Cape Town - Symptoms of the Omicron variant of COVID-19 are considered extremely "mild" by doctors in South Africa than those of its predecessors.

The variant was first discovered in South Africa and most of the cases were found in people aged 20 to 30. Doctors said they generally experienced mild symptoms.

As quoted from the NBC Chicago page, a general practitioner in Gauteng province Dr. Unben Pillay said patients had flu-like symptoms, such as dry coughs, fever, night sweats, a lot of body pains.

On November 18, the chair of the South African Medical Association Dr. Angelique Coetzee via BBC said the symptoms were quite different from the symptoms caused by the Delta variant.

A 33-year-old man, for example, had been extremely fatigued for several days with body aches and headaches. He had an itchy throat but did not have a cough and did not lose the sense of smell.

Many patients experienced similar symptoms. Coetzee's colleagues also presented the same reports. The hospitalization rates in South Africa had increased, but not exclusively due to the Omicron variant, but the overall number of cases.

According to WHO data, people who have tested positive for COVID-19 have a higher risk of contracting the Omicron variant. Vaccines are still necessary to minimize the severity of COVID-19 symptoms and deaths.

In general, data regarding the Omicron variant is still lacking, including its level of transmission, symptoms, and disease severity. WHO is still working with various researchers around the world to further study the new variant.

Read: Indonesia Imposes Entry Ban to Avoid Omicron Variant, Says Health Ministry

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