johannesburg the new omicron variant of the coronavirus results in mild disease without prominent syndromes angelique coetzee the chairwoman of the south african medical association told sputnik on saturdaythe world health organization who identified on friday the new south african strain as one of concern as it is reported to carry a high number of mutations 32 which possibly makes it more transmissible and dangerous the who has dubbed it omicron the 15th letter of the greek alphabetit presents mild disease with symptoms being sore muscles and tiredness for a day or two not feeling well so far we have detected that those infected do not suffer loss of taste or smell they might have a slight cough there are no prominent symptoms of those infected some are currently being treated at home coetzee saidthe official noted that hospitals have not been overburdened by omicron patients and that the new strain is not been detected in vaccinated persons at the same time the situation might be different for the unvaccinatedwe will only know this after two weeks yes it is transmissible but for now as medical practitioners we do not know why so much hype is being driven as we are still looking into it we will only know after two to three weeks as there are some patients admitted and these are young people aged 40 and younger coetzee addedthe chairwoman also criticized the decision by some countries to ban flights from south africa is premature as there is not enough information on how dangerous it isfollowing the reports about the new variant the united states the european union canada israel australia and other countries have restricted travel from several southern african nations over the health concerns