There are three main symptoms of coronavirus. If you get just one of them, you should get a test.
What are the symptoms?
- New and continuous cough – coughing a lot for more than an hour, or having three or more coughing episodes in 24 hours
- Fever – a temperature above 37.8C
- Change in smell or taste – either you cannot taste or smell anything, or these senses are different to normal.
Public Health England says about 85% of people with Covid will have at least one.
Key symptoms:
- Fever and tiredness
- Contineous cough
- Loss of test or smell
- Breathing difficulties
Is Covid the same in everyone?
No. The coronavirus can affect multiple organs and has several less common symptoms.
Scientists using data on the health of four million people say Covid has six sub-types.
Symptoms include:
- Flu-like with no fever: Headache, loss of smell, muscle pains, cough, sore throat, chest pain, no fever
- Flu-like with fever: Headache, loss of smell, cough, sore throat, hoarseness, fever, loss of appetite
- Gastrointestinal: Headache, loss of smell, loss of appetite, diarrhoea, sore throat, chest pain, no cough
- Fatigue (severe level one): Headache, loss of smell, cough, fever, hoarseness, chest pain, fatigue
- Confusion (severe level two): Headache, loss of smell, loss of appetite, cough, fever, hoarseness, sore throat, chest pain, fatigue, confusion, muscle pain
- Abdominal and respiratory (severe level three): Headache, loss of smell, loss of appetite, cough, fever, hoarseness, sore throat, chest pain, fatigue, confusion, muscle pain, shortness of breath, diarrhea, abdominal pain
- And researchers think that vomiting, diarrhoea and abdominal cramps could be a sign of coronavirus infection in children.
If I have a cough, is it definitely Covid?
Lots of other viruses have similar symptoms to Covid, including flu and other infections. This will be a particular problem over winter when these bugs are more common.
Public Health England says just under half of people who have one of the three main Covid symptoms will not have it. However, they should still get a test.
What should I do if I have Covid?
If you have a positive test result you should self-isolate at home for at least 10 days from the time symptoms started.
You must stay away from other members of your household, who must self-isolate for at least 14 days.
Most people will have only mild symptoms, which can be managed with pain relief (like paracetamol), bed rest and plenty of fluids.
You should not even go to a GP surgery, pharmacy or hospital.
(With inputs from BBC)
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