Dr. Angelique Coetzee was the first South African doctor to draw attention to the new omicron mutant of the coronavirus and to treat the first infected. In a guest post for the British “Daily Mail”, she is amazed at Europe’s reactions.
“As chairman of the and 33 years as a general practitioner, I have seen a lot in my medical career.” This is how the doctor Dr. Angelique Coetzee her comment in the British newspaper. Coetzee was the first South African doctor to alert authorities to patients with a new variant of Omicron on November 18. She also treated the first infected with the mutation.
“But nothing prepared me for the extraordinary global reaction that had met my announcement this week that I had seen a young man in my practice who had a case of Covid that turned out to be an omicron variant,” writes the Doctor continues.
The new variant has many experts around the world. Several countries, including Germany, responded with entry bans from countries in southern Africa.
Coetzee points out too little data
But Coetzee considers such reactions to be exaggerated. “I was stunned by the response – especially from the UK. And let me be clear: Nothing I’ve seen in this new variant justifies the extreme measures the UK government has taken in response. Nobody is here in South Africa was hospitalized with the Omikron variant, and it is also assumed that no one here is seriously ill with it, “she writes in her guest post.
We still don’t know enough to enforce such strict measures, said the South African doctor. In South Africa there is still no talk of restrictions or lockdowns because they want to wait for results first. “Again, we’ve got used to new variants of Covid. When our scientists confirmed the discovery of another one, nobody made anything big out of it. A lot of people didn’t even notice.”
Despite the lack of information about the Omikron variant, many European countries have reacted with strict measures. “Our government was understandably angry about this, suggesting that ‘excellent science should be applauded, not punished’.” What Coetzee and her colleagues observed in South Africa “in no way justify the knee-jerk reaction we have seen from Great Britain”.
So far only mild courses – Coetzee recommends vaccination
According to Coetzee, initial findings show that the new variant spreads quickly, but in most cases only causes mild symptoms. “That would be a helpful step on the way to herd immunity,” says Coetzee. “We will find out in the next two weeks if this is the case.” The worst situation would be a rapidly spreading virus with serious infections. “But we are not there at the moment.”
You are currently not treating patients with severe Omicron courses. “Take my first Omicron case (…). It didn’t occur to him that he had Covid: he thought he had been in the sun too long after working outside.” So far, young men in particular have tested positive for Omikron – both vaccinated and unvaccinated or not fully vaccinated.
Coetzee fears the UK is raising the alarm unnecessarily at the moment. “Yes, the picture could look different one day,” she continues. “For example, I have not yet seen any older, unvaccinated people who have become infected with the new variant and who may have a serious course of the disease. But the reality is that we have to learn to live with Covid. Take care and let go You vaccinate yourself. Above all, don’t panic – that goes for governments too. “
Source From: Stern
