The Covid-19 pandemic is not over yet and the emergence of new variants of Coronavirus still poses a threat. The latest mutant BA.5 has caught the attention of the medical fraternity due to its new symptoms.
As the new variant is spreading, doctors and health experts have observed new symptoms, which are less common or new compared to the previous variants. The latest mutation, BA.5 is a subvariant of Omicron, which had less serious symptoms.
Experts warn that the new mutations could show completely new symptoms, which were absent in the case of Omicron and prior variants. As far as Omicron BA.5 strain is concerned, there is a slight difference that is noticed in symptoms among patients, who were infected by it.
Firstly, the most common symptom, which has been pre-dominant since the advent of the malevolent virus, is still the same. Sore throat is still very prevalent in half of the Omicron cases. Other common symptoms such as cough, headache, and blocked nose are also substantially visible.
One of the changes that are noticed in the BA.5 strain is that the symptoms are milder or less severe than in the previous variants. As per a Times of India report, one of the reasons that experts believe Omicron BA.5 patients have milder symptoms is that they start exhibiting symptoms even after getting infected with a lower amount of virus.
There was a time when loss of smell used to be one of the most prominent symptoms of Covid-19. It is not the case with Omicron and its sub-variants. The altered smell is one of the least common symptoms, which goes on to highlight that Omicron BA.5 affects the neural system in rare cases.
This also implies that the new variant has fewer long-term consequences, commonly known as post-Covid or long-covid symptoms. Other symptoms include a hoarse voice, fatigue, dizziness, nausea, fever, loss of appetite and body aches, among several others.
