Omicron pioneer Dr Angelique Coetzee pressured by world powers to exaggerate its seriousness

Dr Angelique Coetzee, among the first to identify the milder new Covid variant, reveals to The Daily Telegraph how she was ‘pressured’ by international agencies to overstate the danger

The South African GP who discovered the Omicron variant has hit out at world powers for “pressuring” her to say the disease was more serious than it is.

Dr Angelique Coetzee, who was one of the first scientists to sound the alarm about Omicron last November, has revealed to The Daily Telegraph that she has since been the target of “attacks” from internationally-based scientists and politicians for her comments about how the strain is a minor illness in comparison to Delta.

Dr Angelique Coetzee, who was among the first to identify Omicron and its more mild symptoms.

Customers in Denmark, the first EU country to lift all domestic Covid restrictions.

Soon after identifying the new strain Dr Coetzee, chair of the South African Medical Association, said that for most patients in her country Omicron was likely to cause “mild” symptoms including fatigue and scratchy throat

“Because of all of Covid’s mutations, all of these scientists and politicians who aren’t from South Africa were contacting me telling me I was wrong when I spoke out, that it was a serious disease … they were telling me I had no idea what I was talking about, they kept attacking me,” Dr Coetzee said.

“In South Africa it is a lighter disease, but in Europe it has been a serious, serious illness, which is what the politicians want me to say … there has been a lot of pressure from European scientists and politicians who have said ‘Please don’t say it is a mild illness’.”

Intensive care workers in Spain, where the milder for most but still highly contagious Omicron variant has filled beds and exhausted staff. Picture: AFP

Dr Coetzee’s initial judgment about Omicron’s impact has been largely borne out in Australia.

In NSW, despite many times more people being infected with the new variant, ICU hospitalisations have remained below the peak experienced during the Delta wave.

Dr Coetzee said she believed “fear” was behind the attempts to discredit her.

“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,” she said.

“But I have stated many times before it can be a serious illness if you are unvaccinated and have comorbidities but for the majority of people it is a mild illness. I am the one who has seen the patients first-hand but the politicians won’t listen.”

“If a clinical feature proves I am wrong, then I will apologise.”

Despite the pressure on her from foreign powers, Dr Coetzee said she would “stick to her guns”.

“I will not give in to pressure and I am not easily intimidated,” she said.

Dr Coetzee is not the first scientist to come under attack for attempting to put Covid in perspective.

In December last year, emails obtained from top US medicos Anthony Fauci and Francis Collins colluded to co-ordinate media coverage to “take down” the Great Barrington Declaration, a project by top epidemiologists urging policy makers to take a “focused” approach to protect high risk populations while avoiding society-wide lockdowns.