US CDC adds three new COVID-19 symptoms to its list
As the number of COVID-19 cases continues to surge in the US, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is updating the symptoms of the deadly disease. The agency, which had listed just three key signs at the start of what has become a pandemic, has now added three more into its list, taking the total count to 11. Here's more about them.
What are the three new symptoms?
The three new signs added by the CDC are nausea, congestion or runny nose, and diarrhea. Apart from them, the list mentions fever or chills, cough, shortness of breath or difficulty breathing, fatigue, muscle or body aches, headache, loss of taste or smell, and sore throat. The agency says any of these symptoms could appear 2-14 days after being infected by the coronavirus.
Severity of symptoms could range between very mild to extreme
The CDC also emphasizes that infected people could see these symptoms with a degree of severity between very mild to extreme. The extreme category, according to the agency, could include problems like breathing trouble, persistent pain or pressure in the chest, new confusion, inability to wake or stay awake, or bluish lips or face. In any such case, emergency services must be alerted immediately.
Note: There could be more unknown symptoms
That said, while these symptoms could indicate a potential COVID-19 infection, it must be noted that many of these problems can occur due to other diseases, too. Also, one should keep in mind that this is not the complete list of symptoms as we found the disease six months ago and will probably learn more about the virus and its impact over time.
Finally, there can be asymptomatic cases
In addition to the unknown symptoms, there could also be the case of asymptomatic infections, where the person who is infected by the novel coronavirus has little to no symptoms. Owing to all these factors, health experts have repeatedly emphasized the importance of extensive testing and contact-tracing so that all potential infections and their contacts could be isolated, reducing the transmission rate.
Over 1 crore infected worldwide
At the time of writing, over 1 crore (10 million) people had been infected - with nearly 5 lakh deaths - by COVID-19 around the world. A quarter of these infections have been recorded in the US and over 5.28 lakh in India.
