The doctor who raised the alarm over the Omicron variant said patients had shown ‘unusual but mild’ symptoms.
Dr Angelique Coetzee was alerted to the possibility of a new variant when locals near her Pretoria practice had symptoms that did not fit the ‘traditional’ mould of Covid.
None of them suffered from a loss of taste or smell - both of which are part of the globally recognised symptoms of coronavirus.
Instead, patients suffered from the likes of intense fatigue and a six-year-old child with a high pulse rate, the Mirror reports.
Dr Coetzee, who chairs South Africa’s Medical Association, said: “Their symptoms were so different and so mild from those I had treated before.”
On November 18, when four family members all tested positive for Covid with complete exhaustion, she informed the country’s vaccine advisory committee.
She said in total about two dozen of her patients have tested positive Covid with symptoms of Omicron - which the world is now scrambling to contain with various travel bans.
They were mostly healthy men who turned up “feeling so tired" and about half of them had not even had a single dose - a prevalent issue in South Africa and in swathes of the African continent.
South African scientists say Omicron is behind a sharp rise of cases in the country’s Gauteng province.
Ten countries from southern Africa have been added to Scotland’s red list in recent days.
There has been a number of cases of the variant reported in Europe - including the UK.
UK health officials yesterday confirmed that two cases of Omicron had been identified in England.
The news resulted in new restrictions on international travel in Scotland.
Travellers are now required to take a PCR test before entry into Scotland. Passengers must also self-isolate until they have received a negative test.
Scottish Health Secretary Humza Yousaf has urged Scots to ‘redouble their efforts’ in preventing the spread of Omicron.
Scientists are continuing to investigate the impact that Omicron has on infection numbers and vaccine efficiency.
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