Long Covid fears over Omicron

THE Western Cape Department of Health has confirmed that many patients still suffer from long Covid born of infection by the Omicron variant, which can lead to either severe or mild illness.

Some doctors in private practice have warned that patients experiencing shortness of breath and a long-term cough have symptoms of Omicron, which can be misleading in how it presents. Symptoms of long Covid include shortness of breath and fatigue.

The department said long Covid patients could feel unwell for months.

Provincial department of health spokesperson Mark van der Heever said the Omicron variant, which reared its head nearly a year ago and was discovered by South African virologists headed by Professor Tulio de Oliveira, was still present today alongside the BA.5 variant.

“Omicron and BA.5 are the two most dominant variants in the province in the samples requiring testing, although the number of tests have also been reduced,” Van der Heever said.

He added that studies indicated that many people who had tested positive for Covid-19 could feel unwell for months, and symptoms could be severe.

“Long Covid can occur after both severe and mild Covid illness. A study in the Western Cape found 60% of patients with mild Covid-19 had at leas one post-Covid-19 symptom two months later; 35% had three or more.”

The most common symptoms were shortness of breath and fatigue.

“PCC (Post-Covid Condition) has a negative impact on your health, as it means you could potentially not feel well for months after recovering. If you do not feel well, you do not enjoy life as you used to, as you are not able to go to work or socialise with friends and family like you used to.

“There are so many long-term implications if you do develop PCC.

“It has been proven that vaccination protects against severe illness requiring hospitalisation and death. You can avoid ending up in hospital, and possibly suffering from post-Covid symptoms, by getting vaccinated. This way you have a greater chance of avoiding long-term illness.”

Van der Heever said they had seen a decline in Covid-19 admissions and deaths at hospitals: “For the period August 24 to 31, overall there has been a decrease across all metrics: new cases, hospitalisations, and deaths.”

Dr EV Rapiti, who has become a common face on social media during the Covid-19 pandemic, has released a video explaining the symptoms of Omicron, which are often mistaken for the common cold or flu.

“I have to emphasise the point of Omicron being an insidious or cunning disorder, because one does not realise the complications that come with it. It is one of those strains that presents with a very mild symptom, such as a cough and a bit of shortness of breath, which you would not think of as being serious.

“We had a couple who came to me with a four-week history of cough and not much history of shortness of breath, which we saw with the Delta strain. They did feel a bit tired and couldn’t do their housework, so they came to see me.

“The other thing that distinguishes Omicron 5 from other strains is that the oxygen for some reason remains high at 97%, which explains why patients say they do not feel that tired.

“It seems not the entire lung is infected, part of the lung is still healthy and can maintain the oxygen level.

“It is only when they do small tasks (that) I presume the oxygen drops and they feel tired.”