COVID symptoms to identify new variant: Sore throat, runny nose, and blocked nose top the list for Omicron symptoms

The coronavirus is a rapidly mutating virus, meaning that new variants of the virus are appearing every few months. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), there are currently over 500 subvariants of the Omicron strain circulating around the world, with the latest being the XBB.15 and BF.7 variants.

One of the concerning aspects of these new variants is that the symptoms associated with the disease have also changed significantly. This makes it difficult to identify whether someone has contracted the virus based on the so-called “classic” COVID symptoms.

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The top COVID symptoms:

The top three symptoms currently reported by people with COVID include sore throat, runny nose, and blocked nose. Other common symptoms include sneezing, headache, hoarse voice, muscle aches, and pains. It is important to note that the classic symptoms of loss of taste and smell, high fever, and fatigue are no longer the top signs of COVID. Since XBB.15 and BF.7 are sub-variants of Omicron, the symptoms associated with them are similar to previous strains and no specific symptoms have been reported for these variants.