A GP has explained why a number of people are being struck down by the so-called ‘super cold’.
The term has been used by people who are unwell with Covid -like symptoms - with repeated tests suggesting that they do not have the virus itself.
‘Super cold’ was first uttered by people in the UK back in December as the Omicron wave of the virus first grew around the country.
And it appears that many are using the term once again, as we enter into another wave of Covid infections - this time, it is being driven by BA.2, which is an Omicron sub variant.
There have also been reports of people coming down with influenza and norovirus across the UK in recent months.
Our partner title, Yorkshire Live, spoke to one of its local GPs to get an idea as to why many people have been falling ill recently.
Dr Ollie Hart, from Sloan Medical Centre in Sheffield, said that he has seen an increase in the number of people coming down with flu or cold-like symptoms.
He said: “It’s felt like more than usual for this time of year and there seems to be quite a high occurrence."
Dr Ollie then explained: “But my gut feeling is that this is coming from people mixing with no barriers again.
“People are mixing and spreading bugs they haven’t had for a while. We’ve been protected from that over the past few years and our immune systems aren’t quite used to it.
“We’re seeing the usual range of symptoms - sore throats, runny noses, coughs, diarrhoea, it’s just almost concentrated at the moment now everyone is mixing with no restrictions.”
Anyone with those symptoms should seek help form a pharmacist before heading to the doctors, Dr Ollie has advised.
He also added that people should consider taking time off for recovery if they feel it is required.
“People shouldn’t panic”, Dr Ollie added.
“We have almost forgotten what it’s like to have an ordinary cough or cold that’s not Covid.
“If you are clinically vulnerable or have a chronic health condition you should take a bit more care but for most people, we need to remember common sense about managing ordinary day to day illnesses. This is a normal part of life.
“There isn’t a plague running around. Having simple bugs is an ordinary fact of life."
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