The South African doctor who discovered the Omicron strain has revealed she was ‘pressured’ into describing the variant as more dangerous than it really is. Dr Angelique Coetzee was one of the first to report the new variant in November last year and said it caused ‘mild’ symptoms for those in her country.
The doctor who discovered the Omicron Covid-19 strain, Angelique Coetzee, says that she was pressured by European governments not to reveal that it had mild presentation, according to an interview in Germany’s Welt.
When asked if it’s true, Coetzee replied: “I was told not to state publicly that it was a mild illness. I have been asked to refrain from making such statements and to say that it is a serious illness. I declined.” (translated).
“I am a clinician and based on the clinical picture there are no indications that we are dealing with a very serious disease. The course is mostly mild. I’m not saying you won’t get sick if you’re mild.
“The definition of mild Covid-19 disease is clear, and it is a WHO definition: patients can be treated at home and oxygen or hospitalization is not required,” she said, adding: “A serious illness is one in which we see acute pulmonary respiratory infections: people need oxygen, maybe even artificial respiration. We saw that with Delta – but not with Omicron. So I said to people, “I can’t say it like that because it’s not what we’re seeing.””
When asked why she was prevented from telling the truth, Coetzee said “They tried, but they didn’t make it.”
“What I said at one point – because I was just tired of it – was: In South Africa this is a mild illness, but in Europe it is a very serious one. That’s what your politicians wanted to hear.”
According to Coetzee, she wasn‘t pressured by South African authorities – and was instead criticized by scientists in the UK and Netherlands, who said “How can you explain that it’s a mild disease? It’s a serious illness. Look at the mutations.”
My reports have thrown them off track. In a pandemic, you also have to look at what is happening at the grassroots level. The general practitioners who treat the sick every day must be asked what they experience, how the clinical picture presents itself. -Welt
When Omicron first emerged, Dr. Anthony Fauci played dumb right after praising South African doctors, saying: “The things that we don’t know right now are whether the people who do get infected have a severer form of the disease or whether it’s a light disease or somewhat the same as delta.“
Dr Coetzee, who is also the chair of the South African Medical Association, said ‘They are accusing me of lying, of downplaying Omicron because of how it has been in Europe … in their minds, it is impossible for a disease with more than 38 mutations to be mild,’
Once again – follow the science, unless the science doesn’t align with their political goals and directives.