A South African doctor who was among the first in the country to suspect a new Covid-19 variant is making people sick says the cases she has treated so far have been mild.
Dr Angelique Coetzee, a private physician and chair of the South African Medical Association, told Reuters.
“Some of them will have what they call a scratched throat, and some will have a cough, a dry cough. But it’s not a constant cough. It comes and goes. And that’s more or less that. the big symptoms we’ve seen.”
Coetzee said she and her colleagues haven’t treated anyone who needs oxygen, but several people have had high temperatures, including one who was a very sick child with a rapid pulse.
The child was treated at home and felt better after about 48 hours.
Appearing on CBS on Sunday, former FDA commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb noted health officials don’t know if the variant will cause more serious outcomes.
“Does this make people sicker? There’s no indication of that. And in fact, there’s some anecdotal information provided from doctors in South Africa that this could cause it. Now that could be a hypothesis of the fact that the original case seemed to have Gottlieb told CBS News on Sunday.
CNN has reached out to Coetzee for further comment.
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