How COVID-19 spreads
The virus is usually spread from person to person by:
close contact with an infectious person
contact with fine respiratory droplets and aerosol particles from an infected person’s cough or sneeze
touching objects or surfaces that have droplets from an infected person, and then touching your mouth or face.
Symptoms of COVID-19
Symptoms of COVID-19 can range from mild to severe. Some people recover easily, and others get very sick very quickly. If you test positive for COVID-19 you may experience:
fever
coughing
sore throat
shortness of breath.
Other symptoms include:
runny nose or congestion
headache or fatigue
muscle or joint pains
nausea or loss of appetite
diarrhoea or vomiting
temporary loss of smell or altered sense of taste.
COVID-19 symptoms are similar to some common illnesses, such as colds and flu, or allergies.
See our COVID-19: Identifying the symptoms fact sheet.
You can use our COVID-19 symptom checker to find out if you need to get tested, or seek medical help.
COVID-19 variants
Viruses naturally change or mutate. This can lead to what is known as a variant to the main virus strain. This generally happens where there is a large amount of community transmission.
COVID-19 variants are continuing to emerge. The World Health Organization (WHO) is responsible for tracking variants of concern and interest.
There are currently 13 named variants of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. Some previous variants of concern were declassified as a variant of concern once further data was available.
The WHO has identified the variants of concern as:
Alpha – first found in the United Kingdom
Beta – first found in South Africa
Delta – first found in India
Gamma – first found in Brazil
Omicron – first found in South Africa.
Long COVID
Most people who test positive for COVID-19 recover completely, but some people may develop long COVID.
Long COVID is where symptoms of COVID-19 remain, or develop, long after the initial infection – usually after 4 weeks. Symptoms of long COVID can last for weeks or sometimes months, and include:
extreme fatigue (tiredness)
shortness of breath, heart palpitations, chest pain or tightness
problems with memory and concentration
changes to taste and smell
joint and muscle pain.
It is not yet known how long symptoms of long COVID will last.
New Common Symptoms of COVID-19
Apart from the new COVID symptoms that are mentioned above, here are the common ones that can still be noticed when you are infected by the virus:
Runny nose
Fever accompanied by chills
Brain fog
Loss of smell and taste
Chronic headache
Headache
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