A professor has revealed that twice as many people have covid right now compared to the common cold.
It is estimated that more than 4.5m Brits had coronavirus as of Tuesday morning, according to the Zoe Health Study. It is believed the rise in cases has been led by the highly transmissible Omicron BA.4 and BA.5 variants.
However, free testing is no longer available for the majority of people in the UK, making it difficult for many to confirm whether they have contracted Covid-19 or not. Professor Tim Spector, ZOE Scientific Co-Founder and lead scientist on the ZOE Health Study, has described two key symptoms that people should look out for in the morning, the Express reports.
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He notes that two symptoms are standing out from the rest in the Zoe study while there are "twice as many covid cases as common colds currently - the ratio has never been so high". Writing on Twitter, he noted that in the morning, people with coronavirus may experience fatigue despite the fact they got a full night's sleep.
Professor Spector also said that a sore throat is currently the most reported symptom in people with Covid and said that if you are experiencing either or both symptoms then you should "assume" it's Covid. In a recent YouTube video, he said that if you experience any cold like symptoms, then you should "try and get tested if you can".
He added: "If you can't get tested, assume you've got a cold and stay away from other people until you feel better." Currently, the most reported cold-like symptoms on the report are:
- Runny nose
- Sore throat
- Headache
- Persistent cough
- Mild or severe fatigue
The professor warned that Omicron BA.4 and BA.5 are causing a surge in cases due to the fact that they breach the immune defences much more effectively than previous variants. He also said the strains are "damening them down" so you don't get inflammation at first to stop it.
However, he added that this doesn't make the vaccines ineffective due to the fact that the strains often only result in a milder illness which has been mitigated by the vaccines.
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