It’s been revealed that the covid variant called Omicron is creating less severe symptoms among infected patients. Deseret News notes that the reason for which this is happening could be revealed.
The online publication notes that South Africa’s health minister said just the other day that vaccines and previous COVID-19 infections may be the reason, according to The Washington Post.
“We believe that it might not necessarily just be that omicron is less virulent, but we believe that this coverage of vaccination, also in addition to natural immunity of people who have already had contact with the virus, is also adding to the protection,” said Joe Phaahla, the nation’s health minister.
He continued and said the following:
“That’s why we are seeing mild illness.”
The same online publication notes that Dr. Michelle Groome who is an official at the National Institute for Communicable Diseases in South Africa, said in a tweet that the omicron variant “is likely to be milder because of our underlying immunity, rather than intrinsic virulence of the virus.”
On the other hand, it’s also worth noting the fact that the unvaccinated and uninfected are still at risk for severe COVID-19, she said.
Thanks @pvanheus, so important to remember this – #omicron is likely to be milder because of our underlying immunity, rather than intrinsic virulence of the virus. So previously uninfected and unvaccinated are still at risk of severe #COVID19 https://t.co/k9jlQ0yXYY
— Dr Michelle Groome (@Dr_Groome) December 17, 2021
More about Omicron symptomatology
The symptoms really seem to be similar to other coronavirus variants. Check out the top five symptoms.
Runny nose.
Headache.
Fatigue (either mild or severe).
Sneezing.
Sore throat.
According to the same online publication, Professor Tim Spector, the lead scientist on the ZOE COVID Study app, said there’s a risk you might think omicron is a normal cold, but you shouldn’t ignore the signs according to The Guardian.
