Eight symptoms of Omicron to never ignore

In NSW alone, 18,278 new Covid-19 cases were confirmed yesterday from 90,019 tests — a positivity rate of 20.30 per cent.

That indicates there could be more Covid-19 cases than are officially being detected. Infections in Victoria and Queensland are also skyrocketing.

With so many cases around, many are wondering what are the symptoms of Omicron.

It’s been reported the symptoms of Omicron are largely milder than traditional Covid and present as more cold-like or like flu.

Experts across the globe have highlighted at least eight early warning signs of Omicron you should never ignore.

It’s thought these tend to come on quickly and quite early in the illness, from about two days after exposure, The Sun reports.

They seem to last for around five days, but of course can go quicker, and some can linger.

If you have Covid symptoms of any kind, you should get a PCR test and self-isolate until the results come back.

A string of hugely positive studies indicate Omicron is milder than other strains.

The first official UK report revealed the risk of hospitalisation is 50 to 70 per cent lower than with Delta.

Covid booster jabs protect against Omicron and offer the best chance to get through the pandemic, health officials have repeatedly said.

Infection rates are high - with daily cases breaking records - so if you feel at all unwell, there is a good chance it is Covid.

The early symptoms

Going by reports from cases in the UK, South Africa and US, these are common early warning signs of Omicron:

● Scratchy throat

● Lower back pain

● Runny nose/congestion

● Headache

● Fatigue

● Sneezing

● Night sweats

● Body aches

It was doctors in South Africa that first said a scratchy throat, congestion, a dry cough and lower back pain were being picked up among Omicron patients.

Ryan Noach – chief executive of Discovery Health, the country’s largest private health insurer - made the comments after analysing some 78,000 Omicron cases.

Unben Pillay, a family doctor practising on the outskirts of Johannesburg, said that while it was still early days, health professionals were “seeing patients present with dry cough, fever, night sweats and a lot of body pain”.

Dr Amir Khan, a British GP, described “drenching night sweats”, the kind “where you might have to get up and change your clothes”.

The ZOE Covid Study, which tracks the outbreak with the help of millions of app users, conducted an initial analysis of symptom data from positive cases in London.

London was selected due to the higher prevalence of Omicron compared to other regions.

The analysis found no clear differences in the early symptoms (three days after a test) between Delta and Omicron.

It said the top five symptoms reported were runny nose, headache, fatigue, sneezing and sore throat.

The CDC - which provides information for Americans - has also found the same symptoms in a group of Omicron patients.

In a new report, it said the most commonly reported symptoms of Omicron appeared to be a cough, fatigue and congestion.

Some of the older more well-known symptoms do not appear to be featuring as much in reports.

For example, a loss of smell and taste has rarely been reported by medics in relation to Omicron, with some saying they don’t think it is a typical symptom. Fever is also less common.

Prof Tim Spector, who leads the ZOE study, said: “Hopefully people now recognise the cold-like symptoms which appear to be the predominant feature of Omicron.”

- with The Sun