No serious illness found in South African patients with Omicron variant

A South African GP says patients, who tested positive for the Omicron variant, have largely been presenting with mild symptoms.

Dr Angelique Coetzee, says she suspected a new Covid variant might be a possibility, when she started to see patients with mild flu-like symptoms such as tiredness, also testing positive for Covid-19.

New travel restrictions were brought in for countries in southern Africa, after the WHO declared a new variant of concern, which had emerged from the region.

Dr Coetzee is a chair of the South African Medical Association and a practicing GP based in the Pretoria area of the country.

Speaking on Newstalk, she says none of her patients with Omicron have been seriously ill so far.

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