Even as the Covid-19 pandemic has turned into a manageable disease in India due to vaccine coverage and potential herd immunity, its many variants continue to pose threat to the progress made in the last one year. The Delta variant, which wreaked havoc in India during the second wave, and the Omicron and its different subsets marked third phase of the pandemic.
More subsets of the Omicron variant have emerged, with BA.4 and BA.5 starting another wave in South Africa. South Africa was also the first country to report the first few cases of Omicron variant which then later engulfed the whole world.
While experts have said the new variants do not pose any great danger currently, both the subsets of the Omicron variant are said to be more infectious than the previous BA.2, and could even escape immunity.
Professor Tim Spector, head of ZOE Covid Study app, recently shared two Covid symptoms on YouTube that people should take “really seriously”. Loss of smell and tinnitus are two of the symptoms, according to Professor Spector, that need more attention.
Loss of Smell and Tinnitus
Loss of sense of smell is a symptom spotted in early Covid patients, and continues to be a one of the features of the virus. It’s a condition where a person who contracted the virus fails to identify the difference between different smells, or their sense of smell does not work altogether. The symptom can also remain with you even after your recovery, and professor Spector termed it a serious symptom.
Tinnitus, on the other hand, is a relatively new condition among infected persons. Tinnitus means ear ringing where you feel buzzing or ringing in your ear/s.
While calling tinnitus a serious problem, professor Spector said, “It suggests another part of the body is being affected, something internal, more close to the brain.”
Professor Spector and his team, after a survey, also found that one in five Covid patients had an ear-related problem, highlighting how severe the symptom is.
