The symptoms of the Omicron variant match those of common colds, with calls for the government to update its public health messaging to include a wider number of likely Covid symptoms.
A running nose, headaches, fatigue, sneezing and sore throats are the most common symptoms reported by users of theZoe Covid app.
Half of those who reported cold-like symptoms tested positive for Covid, with no difference in the symptoms reported for Delta or Omicron. According to the analysis, only half of the users reported the classic three symptoms of a cough, a cold, and a loss of smell or taste.
The analysis was supported by the committee of scientific advisers. The committee said there was preliminary evidence of changes in the symptoms of Omicron infections, as loss of taste or smell is less reported.
The lead scientist on the study said that public messaging needed to acknowledge that Covid symptoms would appear more like a common cold to many people.
He said he was shocked by the information in the guidance about Covid.
The data shows that the most important symptoms are no longer a new continuous cough, a high temperature or loss of taste or smell.
An Omicron positive case will feel like the common cold for most people. You don't need to ask a friend who has recently tested positive to find out, according to a professor at King's College London.
Half of people with cold-like symptoms now have Covid, so we need to change public messaging to save lives.
The main symptoms of coronaviruses are a high temperature, a cough for more than an hour, a loss or change to your sense of smell or taste, according to the website. People with any of the three symptoms are advised to get a test as soon as possible.
The professor of experimental medicine at Imperial College London said there was evidence that the virus was changing the way it behaved in terms of cells that it wasinfecting.
Omicron was found to be less able to cause harm to deep lung tissue but more able to cause harm to higher bronchial tissue.
It appears to be shifting towards a virus that is higher up in the respiratory tract and is therefore adapting to be more transmissible because it is changing the cell types it isinfecting.
It would produce more common-cold-like symptoms. The lab studies support what the app is telling us.
The semi-lockdown has been terrible for colds, they are struggling to survive. If you have a cold at the moment, there is a 50% chance that it is Covid.
