Omicron variant: What are the symptoms like? Are people going to hospital?

The doctor who discovered the new Omicron Covid-19 variant has said the UK is panicking unnecessarily, while South Africa’s health minister said travel restrictions on his country are “uncalled for”.

Joe Phaahla claimed international travel restrictions will not prevent the spread of the virus and instead suggested regular testing and mask wearing, including for flying, are effective measures to help live with the virus.

South Africa was the first country to detect the new Omicron variant of Covid-19. South Africa and some other African nations have been added to UK red lists for international travel.

South Africa’s health minister Dr Phaahla said wealthier countries like the UK need “definitely” need to give more vaccine doses to countries in Africa.

What are the symptoms of the Omicron variant like?

Dr Phaahla said he has heard from medical professionals in his country that young unvaccinated people have been admitted to hospital with the variant form of Covid-19.

He said he has heard anecdotally that cases of the new variant have been “mild” and mostly in the young, for whom vaccination rates are relatively low in South Africa.

Dr Phaahla also said the UK’s travel restrictions are “very unfortunate and uncalled for”.

He said “we’ve been here before”, adding: “We’ve seen in practice that it doesn’t work.

Dr Angelique Coetzee said it does not cause loss of taste or smell like previous versions of Covid.

“Their symptoms were so different and so mild from those I had treated before," she said.

“We had one very interesting case, a kid about six years old, with a temperature and a very high pulse rate, and I wondered if I should admit her. But when I followed up two days later, she was so much better.

“What we have to worry about is older, unvaccinated people. If they are not vaccinated, we are going to see many people with a severe form of the disease.”

Are people ending up in hospital due to the Omicron variant?

Asked if young unvaccinated people are ending up in hospital with the new variant in South Africa, Dr Phaahla said “Yes. Younger, unvaccinated people … 65% of those they’ve admitted, who are mainly younger people, are actually those who are unvaccinated.”

He said he has heard from GPs that the “majority of the people they’ve been seeing are mild”, but stressed it is “not proper research”.

Asked what he knows about how unwell people are who have the new strain, Dr Phaahla said: “It is still too early at this stage.

“Some of what I’ve read from some of our clinicians has been that thus far they have not witnessed severe illness. Part of it may be because the majority of those who are positive are young people.”

How many people are going to hospital with the Omicron variant?

He added at this stage they do not know what proportion of the younger people who have Omicron are ending up in hospital.

Dr Angelique Coetzee, chair of the South African Medical Association, says she first encountered the variant in a man in his early 30s who presented with tiredness and a mild headache, but none of the usual coronavirus symptoms.

She said: “What we are seeing clinically in South Africa, and remember I’m at the epicentre – that’s where I’m practising – it’s extremely mild. For us, that’s mild cases.”

When asked if the UK was “panicking unnecessarily”, she said: “I think you already have it there in your country and you’re not knowing it, and I would say, yes, at this stage I would say definitely.

“Two weeks from now maybe we will say something different.”