The Nu variant, which was detected in South Africa and announced to be seen in various countries in a short time, gained its official name the other day. The variant, which was thought to be more contagious and more dangerous than the Delta variant, was named ‘Omicron’. New statements came from doctors living in South Africa today about the symptoms of the variant that scared the world again.
Speaking at the press conference of the South African Ministry of Health, Unben Pillay stated that we are still in the early days of the variant, and that the disease is mild in these patients. Expressing that patients with this variant experience dry cough, high fever, night sweats and a lot of pain in the body, he added that vaccinated patients have a better recovery from the disease.
Most of those hospitalized are unvaccinated.
Speaking over the weekend, Dr. Angelique Coetzee noted that the Omicron variant usually shows unusual symptoms, such as extreme fatigue. However, he stated that, contrary to what we are used to from other variants, there was no loss of taste and smell in any of the cases. At the South African National Institute of Infectious Diseases, Dr. Wassila Jassat also said in a statement, “87% of those hospitalized from Omicron cases detected in the city of Tshwane are unvaccinated.”
There is demographic change in patients:
Rudo Mathivha, head of the intensive care unit of the hospital in the city of Soweto, said in his statement that they saw a demographic change in COVID-19 patients, that people in their late 20s and 30s came to the hospital more heavily and entered intensive care. Mathivha stated that 65% of them are unvaccinated, while the rest are vaccinated with a single dose. He added that one of the reasons for this demographic difference may be the low vaccination rates among young people in the country.
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