Health
Apart from symptoms similar to other variants including Delta, the Omicron variant appears to be causing this ‘unusual' symptom at night.
Updated : Dec 13, 2021, 07:24 PM IST
The emergence of the Omicron ‘variant of concern’ of COVID-19 has put the world on high alert. Government agencies are rushing hard to track and curb transmission. With over 30 in its spike protein, Omicron is the most mutated COVID-19 variant since the pandemic began back in early 2020.
The variant that was first detected in Africa is around four times as infectious as the dreaded Delta variant, as per latest studies. Moreover, Omicron seems to have the potential to bypass vaccine immunity.
While more data is still needed about the fast-spreading new variant, Omicron appears to be causing milder infections in patients as of now. Apart from some symptoms similar to other variants including the currently dominant Delta strain, Omicron is causing some ‘unusual symptoms’ as per doctors and researchers observing the variant first hand.
Unusual Omicron symptom that occurs at night
Treating Omicron patients in South Africa, the country’s top medical expert Dr Angelique Coetzee had recently noted a new kind of symptoms in COVID-19 patients infected with the variant, that is different than Delta.
This new symptom is one of the ways where doctors are trying to gauge Omicron patients before test confirmation arrives. While fatigue and weakness are Omicron symptoms in line with other variants, patients are also developing excessive night sweats. Several Omicron patients have reportedly been dealing with this symptom. Some patients are observably ending up with drenched clothes and bed during their sleep due to excessive sweating.
Another peculiar Omicron symptom surfacing is an unusually ‘scratchy’ sore throat. While sore throat is a symptom of other variants too, Omicron patients have complained that their throat feels exceptionally ‘scratchy’.
Other symptoms being observed in Omicron patients include mild fever, dry cough and weakness. A peculiar Delta symptom, the loss of smell, does not appear to be associated with Omicron.