Official NHS list may need to be expanded as symptoms are changing and cases could be missed
The Riskex team are researching the changes in COVID-19 symptoms that are being reported around the world as variants emerge, and patients report their experiences. A recent SKY News article explains the concerns in more detail, and personal experiences from Riskex team members who have recovered from COVID-19 support their findings.
The concern is that the official NHS symptoms list no longer reflects the reality of what sufferers are experiencing, such as the Delta variant, and that cases might be missed.
This was the personal experience of one Riskex team member, which highlighted the symptoms for the Delta variant:
- Day 1 started with a sore throat, felt like the start of a “normal” cold.
- Day 2/3 the sore throat continued, and a headache caused discomfort.
- Day 4 a slight increase in temperature was recorded, with an elevation of 1 degree above normal, and a runny nose started. Over the next 2 days the runny nose continued (3 boxes of tissues consumed). And temperature had normalised.
- Day 6 it seemed that all was well – the runny nose had eased and the temperature had reduced to normal levels.
- Day 7 was the worst day, with a temperature of 102 degrees, heavy sweating, and delirious conversation. Skin surface temperature on the chest around the heart area, back and forehead were very hot, and cold towels were used to reduce the temperature. This lasted about 12 hours.
- Day 8 all was much improved and since then the process has been recovering strength and taking it easy.
Throughout this period, the experience felt like a very bad cold. Coughing was not excessive, there was no shortness of breath, and blood oxygen briefly dropped to a minimum of 85% and quickly recovered to 95%+. There was no loss of taste, and only briefly a loss of smell during the period of runny nose.
This individual had personally witnessed first-hand the suffering caused by the “Kent variant” and this seemed totally different.
We will be reporting these symptoms to the NHS for comment.
