Surgeon:I picked up Omicron in London ...and it was mild

A DOCTOR who believes he was infected by the Omicron variant in London before the first British case was confirmed has said it was ‘mild’ and ‘does not justify another lockdown’.

Elad Maor, 45, could not leave his bed and had a high fever for 48 hours after testing positive for the new strain in his home city of Tel Aviv, Israel, last Saturday.

But despite feeling weak after picking up the disease while attending a medical conference in London last week, the triple-vaccinated cardiologist called for a ‘balanced response’.

‘I don’t think the situation justifies the shutting of airports or bringing in lockdowns,’ Dr Maor told the Daily Mail.

‘Clinically I had mild symptoms. I had a constant fever and I couldn’t get out of bed for two days, but I wasn’t in the emergency room. I didn’t need oxygen or any medical attention. I think there needs to be a balanced reaction that takes into consideration public health, but also the wellbeing of children in school, job security and the treatment of non-Covid patients. I know from personal experience that people were undertreated during the lockdown – people with cancer and heart disease.’

Dr Maor travelled to London with his British wife Ronnie, 46, on November 19. After attending the conference from November 21 to 23, he returned to Israel on the 23rd. The dates suggest the variant was present in Britain before South African health officials announced it had been discovered on November 24.

The first Omicron case in the UK was detected last Saturday, the 27th.

Dr Maor had shown three negative PCR tests to travel and felt fine so treated patients after his return to Israel. But he started coming down with a high temperature late in the evening last Friday.

‘I had fever and muscle ache and a sore throat,’ said Dr Maor, who lives with his wife and their children Aya, 17, Etai, 15, and Alon, 13, in Tel Aviv. ‘I thought I had the flu. I didn’t think it was Covid because I didn’t have a dry cough or shortness of breath, but my wife is a GP and she insisted I go and check myself.’

A PCR test last Saturday confirmed he had Covid and further tests revealed on Monday that he was the third patient in Israel to have the Omicron variant. Dr Maor said he had passed it on to only one colleague at the Sheba Medical Centre.

Dr Maor is the only known case from more than 1,000 attendees at the PCR London Valves conference last week. Not one family member or patient he came into contact with has tested positive.