A doctor has issued a warning as coronavirus cases continue to soar in the UK.
It comes as an estimated one in 30 people are infected with the virus. This is about 3.5% of the population.
There are no longer any restrictions around the virus in the UK, and as we learn to live with covid, many people have likened it to the common cold.
READ MORE: Seven reasons why people may have avoided covid
But one doctor has warned this rhetoric is extremely misleading. Taking to Twitter, Dr Claire Taylor, said: "Someone posted today about #COVID19 being a cold and we should all just catch it and take paracetamol.
"So I thought I would tell you all about my experience with the new Ba.5 variant. Suffice to say I did not have a cold."
Dr Taylor - who runs a Long Covid clinic at a GP surgery in Scotland - said she was re-infected with covid just 12 weeks after a previous bout. She said she had a negative lateral flow result but was "aching all over" and felt like she had been "hit by a bus". On day five she received a "faintly positive" test result.
She continued: "My neck became sore and stiff, I actually could not move my neck at all. Temperature was up and felt generally miserable. NO cold symptoms whatsoever."
The doctor said on "around day 10" she developed numbness and tingling in her left arm, still couldn't move her neck and woke up with distorted vision in her left eye. She still has some symptoms now (two weeks after first feeling unwell).
Warning others, she added: "I would not advise being laissez faire about catching Ba.5. Despite what some random said on Twitter, Covid is not ‘just a cold’ for everyone. Covid is a nasty piece of work that increases your risk of heart attacks, strokes and clots up to 12 months after infection.
"Hospitalisations have risen 30% in one week. I’m not sure how much clearer I can say this. I did not have a cold. I had a virus that affected my neurological system.
"Mask up (FFP2 or above) and test before meeting up with people. Open windows and doors if inside."
Speaking of the BA.5 variant, Professor Tim Spector, of the ZOE Covid Study app, said: “This variant is particularly good at immune escape, causing an increase in reinfections in people in spite of vaccines and natural immunity, particularly over the past few weeks."
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