People are increasingly mistaking Covid for hay fever as cases begin to soar across the UK, scientists have warned.
High pollen levels mean those suffering with sneezing, a sore throat and a runny nose are more likely to assume it is the result of allergies.
But the same symptoms are also synonymous with the Omicron variant, meaning cases are being missed, it is claimed.
Yesterday The Mirror reported that hospitalisations with Covid had risen by 30 per cent in a week, with the virus branded a "drain" on the NHS.
Waning immunity to infection and new sub-variants have been blamed for the spiralling levels of infection, with one in 50 people in England estimated to have Covid earlier this month.
Professor Azeem Majeed, chairman of primary care and public health at Imperial College London, told The Telegraph : “I’ve had a few patients, and also some colleagues as well, who thought they just had hay fever but when they tested it transpired they actually had Covid.
“I think one issue is that, unlike two years ago, we’ve now got population immunity through vaccination or prior infection which does tend to suppress the symptoms somewhat into things like a runny nose, a mild cough, sneezing, for example, which would overlap quite a lot with hay fever."
He said that people are now experiencing milder symptoms than at previous points in the pandemic, meaning people may "confuse" it with hayfever.
That was echoed by Professor Tim Spector, who founded the Zoe app, which tracks symptoms and cases across the UK.
He told The Telegraph: “It’s always good to check any new cold-like symptoms with a quick LFT test but if your only symptoms are a runny nose or sneezing it might just be hayfever."
Prof Spector urged people experiencing hay fever symptoms that seem worse than normal to take a Covid test.
He said: "Covid cases are definitely rising fast again, so the more cases we can catch early the more we can suppress the spike in case numbers.”
Figures released by ONS yesterday reveal that medics ruled Covid was a cause of death for 284 people in England and Wales in the week to June 10 - around two per cent of deaths.
It brings the number of lives lost in 2022 where the virus was ruled to be a primary or contributory cause to 19,778.
Today Prof John Edmunds, a member of the Government's SAGE committee, told The Mirror that the virus continues to be a "drain" on the NHS, with worrying times ahead for the most vulnerable.
He said that the rise of new Omicron sub-variants and waning immunity was fuelling the rise in infections.
Professor Edmunds said that waves of infections are likely to become normal for years to come, but warned that the impact would be severe on those with health conditions putting them at highest risk Covid.
He said: "Most of us are going to be inconvenienced, we may be ill for a few days, but we've still got pretty good protection against serious illness.
"But for some people, who for example have lung conditions or are immunosuppressed, it could be far more serious.
"That's the worry."
He said that there is often a lag of several weeks between infections rising and hospitalisations and deaths increasing, so it is "hard to tell" what the latest wave will look like.
NHS data shows that on Tuesday last week there were 4,469 people with Covid occupying beds in NHS hospitals in England.
Of these 1,641 were primarily being treated for the virus - around 36 per cent - with the rest mainly being treated for another illness.
Even though the proportion was low, he said, separating Covid patients from those at highest risk is a huge problem for hospital bosses.
"It's a big drain," Prof Edmunds stated.
"Those admitted with Covid are still a problem for the health system because they're infectious, and they've got to be treated as such because in a hospital they're with the most vulnerable people in the country.
"It's a real problem if you've got infectious people in with the most vulnerable."
The expert said there are two key causes behind the current wave.
"Firstly there's waning immunity - immunity to infection doesn't last that long," he said.
"Most of us were boosted six months ago or had natural immunity due to infection, but that's now waning.
"On top of that there are new variants, or sub-types of BA 4-5 that have been increasing for some time.
"These are able to get around our defences to some extent and they're making best use of that and spreading.
