"It 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 said

The official noted that hospitals have not been overburdened by Omicron patients and that the new strain has not been detected in vaccinated persons. At the same time, the situation might be different for unvaccinated individuals.
[...]
The World Health Organisation (WHO) on Friday indentified 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 alphabet.

Saudi Arabia to LOOSEN travel restrictions following discovery of omicron variant
"as long as they have one dose of the coronavirus vaccine, Reuters reported. Travelers will still have to quarantine for three days, however."
Germany, Italy join list of countries with detected cases of omicron COVID-19, FKA B.1.1.529 FKA C.1.2 FKA P.1 "branch off the B.1.1.28" FK B.1.351, May 2020
"SCIENTISTS and others have warned against 'knee-jerk' reactions to countries reporting new emerging variants. Some are concerned that nations such as South Africa are being punished for being TRANSPARENT about what they are detecting."
61 COVID-19 cases found on flight from South Africa to Netherlands amid screening for new variant
"The positive cases found on both flights are reportedly being analyzed by the [US] National Institutes for Health [NIH]."
< wipes tears >

Pfizer[-]BioNTech said that, if necessary, they expect to be able to ship [!] a new vaccine tailored to the highly contagious variant, first detected in South Africa, in about 100 [?!] days.

BioNTech added Friday it expects to review more data on OMICRON within two weeks to help decide whether the two jab-vaccine should be reworked.
[...]
"A booster dose of an authorized vaccine represents THE ONLY currently available strategy for boosting waning immunity," Moderna said in the statement.

Johnson & Johnson said it too is closely monitoring emerging strains of COVID-19 and is testing the effectiveness of its single-shot jab against the new variant.

Professor Andrew Pollard, director of the Oxford Vaccine Group which developed the AstraZeneca vaccine used overseas, expressed cautious optimism that existing vaccines could be effective at preventing serious disease from the omicron variant.

He said most mutations appear to be in similar [binding] regions as those in other variants.