Doctors who identified the Omicron strain of COVID-19, the first novel coronavirus strain, said it was “mild” and had not caused an increase in hospitalizations, in a rebuke to the global panic.

Governments around the world are imposing new travel bans and other virus restrictions in response to claims that the new strain is more transmissible and deadlier than Delta.

However, those with the most local expertise in South Africa are saying the opposite.

Barry Schoub, chairman of the Ministerial Advisory Committee on Vaccines, told the press that such fears were misplaced.

“The cases that have occurred so far are mild cases, mild to moderate cases, which is a good sign.”

Schub again disputed the idea that the new strain could be more dangerous than Delta, and noted that Omicron could soon become the dominant strain, making it less “appropriate” than the Delta strain.

Angelique Coetzee, president of the South African Medical Association, echoed Schub’s view, noting that patients infected with Omicron had “very different and very mild symptoms [from] those I have treated before.”

Asked if authorities were unnecessarily panicking, Coetzee said “of course” and tried to dispel alarmism.