A runny nose and itchy throat? It may be Omicron, says study

  A runny nose and a itchy throat? It may be an Omicron, says study

If you are having a cold-like a conditions such as a sniffles, headaches, and tiredness. you are likely to be a positive for Covid's Omicron a variant, an according to a UK study. The Zoe Covid study app asked a  hundreds of thousands of a  people to a log their symptoms and the investigators have been looking at ones linked to a both the a dominant Delta a variant and the new highly a transmissible variant Omicron.

The most common a signs of the virus reported a between December 3 and 10 were a runny nose, headache, fatigue, sneezing, and a sore throat, the Daily Mail reported. The study suggests that the super a mutant virus is more akin to a cold than Covid.

On the contrary, a typical Covid symptoms include a continuous cough, high a  temperature or change/loss of their sense of a taste and smell.

Epidemiologist a Professor Tim a Spector, lead scientist of the ZOE Symptom Tracking Study, has an urged Britons to a keep an eye out for these tell-tale signs of an Omicron in the run up to Christmas, and a before meeting a friends and a relatives, the report said.

"Hopefully a people now a recognise the a cold-like a symptoms which an appear to be the a predominant a feature of an Omicron," he said.

"Omicron symptoms are predominantly cold a symptoms, runny nose, a headache, sore throat and sneezing, so a people should stay at home as it a might a well be a Covid.

"Ahead of a Christmas, if a people want to  an obtain a together and keep  a vulnerable a family members safe, I'd a recommend limiting social contact in the a run up to a Christmas and doing a few Lateral Flow Tests just a before the big a family  a gathering."

The warning comes alongside a numerous reports that Omicron causes milder illness than past variants but scientists are still trying to untangle whether it is intrinsically weaker or if the population has higher levels of immunity, or even both.

In separate a comments this week, a Professor a Spector said "classic" Covid a symptoms like a fever, a cough, or loss of a smell, are now only a present in the a minority of a cases.

He added that an Omicron appears to be a  chipping away at the UK's a vaccine a protection from an infection, but that jabs were still a critical to a protecting a people.

"We are a also a seeing two to three times as a many mild infections in people with a boosters in a Omicron areas as we do in a Delta variant an areas, but they are a still very a protective and a vital a weapon," he said.

Data from the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) also shows that the number of Covid positive a cases which are so a mild they show no symptoms have also a steadily an increased since vaccines started being rolled out on a mass an earlier this year.

However, a Chief Medical Officer a Chris Whitty a dismissed these early a findings and called for "serious caution".