Symptoms due to infection with the Omicron variant are known to be similar to those of the common cold. Moreover, according to the latest report from the Ministry of Health, the majority of the total 254 COVID-19 patients with the Omicron variant in Indonesia experienced symptoms of colds. So, can a cold caused by the Omicron variant be distinguished from the common cold?
“The majority (of transmission) are still dominated by foreign travellers. From the monitoring results, most of them are mild and asymptomatic. The most common symptoms are coughs (49 percent) and colds (27 percent),” said COVID-19 vaccination spokesman Dr Siti Nadia Tarmizi, quoted from the official website of the Ministry of Health, Saturday (8/1/2022).
Head of the European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases from Aarhus University Hospital in Denmark, Prof. Eskild Petersen, said that the symptoms of infection with the Omicron variant and the common cold were indeed very difficult to distinguish.
“The common cold and the Omicron, in my view, are impossible to distinguish,” he said, quoted by The National News, Saturday (8/1/2022).
According to the UK’s National Health Service (NHS), the main symptoms of COVID-19 include a high fever, persistent cough and loss of the ability to taste and smell. However, particularly in the Omicron variant infection, some of the symptoms overlap with those of the common cold. Such as stuffy or runny nose, muscle aches, and sneezing.
Dr. Petersen added that although the flu and Omicron infection cause very similar symptoms, there are still striking differences in symptoms between the two diseases.
According to him, flu tends to cause more muscle pain and back pain than the Omicron variant of COVID-19. These symptoms are not usually experienced by COVID-19 patients, especially the Omicron variant.
“If you do have influenza, you have a fever and general muscle aches,” he says.
In addition, flu patients usually do not experience anosmia or loss of the ability to taste and smell.
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