Sneezing? According to Data, That's Unlikely to Be a COVID-19 Symptom

If you see someone coughing or sneezing on the street and are scared they might have the coronavirus, remember: Sneezing is not a common symptom of COVID-19.

Instead, the primary signs of COVID-19 are fever and a dry cough. Other symptoms include fatigue, nausea, body aches, coughing, shortness of breath, and gastrointestinal issues.

Here are the symptoms associated with COVID-19 and how they compare with symptoms of the common cold, the flu, and allergies:

For many people, the arrival of spring brings allergies. Seasonal allergy symptoms frequently include sneezing and congestion, as well as itchy eyes.

But for COVID-19 patients, congestion only occurs in 4.8 percent of cases, according to a World Health Organisation report that looked at about 56,000 Chinese COVID-19 patients.

Much more common symptoms of the coronavirus include fever (in 87.9 percent of the cases studied), dry cough (67.7 percent of cases), and fatigue (38.1 percent).

Still, the overlap between symptoms of COVID-19 and symptoms of other common conditions is in part why widespread testing is necessary. Plus, someone could have both coronavirus and allergies simultaneously.

The US still lags behind in testing capacity compared to other countries like China and South Korea.

However, after weeks of delays in producing and distributing tests, the US is now beginning to ramp up its testing: More than 350,000 Americans have been tested for the coronavirus, according to the COVID Tracking Project, a resource from journalists at The Atlantic and the founder of a medical-data startup.

That's up from just 10,000 on 12 March.