The South African doctor who sounded the alarm about the new Omicron variant of the coronavirus says the symptoms are ‘unusual, but slight’.

Doctor Angelica Kutzi, who is the head of the South African Medical Association, detected the new coronavirus variant when her patients with COVID-19 showed unusual symptoms at her private clinic in Pretoria. She addressed South Africa’s advisory committee on vaccines on November 18 when a four-member family showed symptoms, including a virus with extreme fatigue.

Currently, she has two dozens of patients who have tested positive for the virus and have new types of symptoms, and the patients are particularly young men. According to her, nearly half of the patients are not vaccinated, and none of the patients has lost sense of taste or smell.

“This disease passes after one or two days of fatigue and muscle pain. Currently, we have discovered that those infected with this variant lose neither taste nor smell. They have a slight cough. There are no marked symptoms. Some patients undergo treatment at home,” she said.