Top US health body adds 3 new symptoms of Covid-19

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has added three new symptoms of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) to its existing list.

Congestion or runny nose, nausea and diarrhoea have been added to the US health protection agency’s list of 12 symptoms now.

Fever or chills, cough, shortness of breath or difficulty in breathing, fatigue, muscle or body aches, headaches, loss of smell or taste and sore throat are the symptoms that are already in CDC’s list.

“This list does not include all possible symptoms. CDC will continue to update this list as we learn more about COVID-19,” the agency said on its website.

People who have contracted Covid-19 could exhibit a varying combination of symptoms and the severity of the illness may differ from case to case, according to the website.

Symptoms may appear 2-14 days after exposure to Sar-Cov-2 virus, which causes the coronavirus disease, the health agency has warned.

CDC’s list of symptoms was limited to fever, cough, and shortness of breath a the onset of the ongoing coronavirus. It added six new symptoms — chills, muscle pain, headache, sore throat, and new loss of taste or smell in April.

Shortness of breath was later updated to ‘shortness of breath or difficulty breathing’.

“Anyone can have mild to severe symptoms. Older adults and people who have severe underlying medical conditions like heart or lung disease or diabetes seem to be at higher risk for developing more serious complications from COVID-19 illness,” it said.

The number of Covid-19 cases is inching closer to the 10 million-mark and over 499,000 deaths have been recorded over the last few months across the world, according to Johns Hopkins University’s tracker.

India has recorded more than 5.28 lakh infections and over 16,000 deaths till date. – Hindustan Times