November 29, 2021: According to the South African doctor who was one of the first detect the new COVID variant now named Omicron said the symptoms are shown by patients in the country so far have been similar to the common viral fever and so far the symptoms have been mild compared to symptoms seen in patients with the Delta variant of COVID.
Dr. Angelique Coetzee, a private practitioner and chair of the South African Medical Association said that she noticed several patients at her clinic showing symptoms different from the dominant Delta variant, but the symptoms were "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.
Coetzee said a patient on November 18 reported being "extremely fatigued" for two days with body aches and headache - symptoms related to normal viral infection. Nonetheless, the doctor decided to get the patient tested. On the same day, more patients came in with similar symptoms, which was when she realised there was "something else going on." Since then, she's seen two to three patients a day.