A recent survey shows what symptoms people can expect from the virus.
While health officials have said that COVID-19 symptoms have been relatively consistent over the years, a recent survey has revealed the most common symptoms of the viral infection—as the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has said the newest variant JN.1 has seen an uptick in recent days.
The CDC, in an update earlier this month, said that it’s not clear if symptoms associated with the JN.1 variant are markedly different than previous ones.
“In general, symptoms of COVID-19 tend to be similar across variants,” the agency said. “The types of symptoms and how severe they are usually depend more on a person’s immunity and overall health rather than which variant causes the infection.”
New Symptoms?
Recent survey data collected by health officials in the United Kingdom, where multiple COVID-19 strains are spreading, trouble sleeping and insomnia appear to have become more common symptoms among cases. In comparison, a survey released more than a year for Scotland shows no mention of trouble sleeping or insomnia as symptoms.
The data show that approximately 10.8 percent of surveyed UK residents reported having issues trying to sleep. The same dataset shows that 10.5 percent of survey respondents cited worry or anxiety as a COVID-19 symptom.
Notably, a once-telltale sign of a COVID-19 infection was a loss of taste or smell. However, that symptom was only reported by about 2 percent of respondents in the survey. The Scottish survey from last year showed that about 11 percent of respondents reported a loss of taste or smell.
Meanwhile, only 2.4 percent reported getting a fever associated with COVID-19, according to the survey.
The most common COVID-19 symptom was a runny nose at 31.1 percent, while cough was No. 2 on the list at 22.9 percent, the data show. About 20 percent of respondents reported a headache, nearly 20 percent reported weakness or tiredness, 15.8 percent reported muscle pain, and 13.2 percent reported a sore throat.
