Researchers in the UK have found out that there are six distinct clusters of symptoms that manifest in people infected with the Coronavirus and determines whether they are a death risk.
This is coming close on the heels of a disturbing announcement made by President Akufo Addo during his latest public address on COVID-19 on Sunday, January 17, 2021.
President Akufo Addo said the strange COVID strain was detected in some passengers arriving at the Kotoka International Airport (KIA) recently.
“Recent genomic sequencing undertaken by our scientists have established that some arriving passengers tested positive for the new variants of COVID-19,” the President said.
“Work is ongoing to determine the presence and extent of spread of the new variants in the general population…We do not want to go back to the days of partial lockdowns, which had a negative impact on our economy and our way of life. But should that become necessary, I will have no option but to re-impose these restrictions because it is better to be safe than to be sorry,” the President warned.
Meanwhile, the researchers from King’s College in the UK also found that the six clusters of symptoms differed in the severity of the disease and the need for respiratory support during hospitalization.
The findings have major implications for the clinical management of COVID-19, and could help doctors predict who is most at risk and likely to need hospital care in the current second wave of coronavirus infections.
Continuous cough, fever and loss of smell (anosmia) continue to remain the primary symptoms that govern the Covid-19 infections. In addition to these, however, people can experience a wide range of other symptoms including headaches, muscle pains, fatigue, diarrhea, confusion, loss of appetite, shortness of breath and more.
Symptomatic progression of the disease also varies significantly between people, ranging from mild flu-like symptoms or a simple rash to severe or fatal disease.
The six clusters comprise, category one, which manifests as ‘flu-like’ symptoms with no fever: these are accompanied by Headache, loss of smell, muscle pains, cough, sore throat, chest pain, no fever.
In category two, it is a ‘flu-like’ symptom with fever; and these are accompanied by Headache, loss of smell, cough, sore throat, hoarseness, fever, loss of appetite.
Gastrointestinal disturbances accompanied by Headache, loss of smell, loss of appetite, diarrhea, sore throat, chest pain, no cough constitute category three.
For category four, the researchers described it as “severe level one fatigue” accompanied by Headache, loss of smell, cough, fever, hoarseness, chest pain, and fatigue.
At severe level two, there is confusion accompanied by Headache, loss of smell, loss of appetite, cough, fever, hoarseness, sore throat, chest pain, fatigue, confusion, muscle pain.
The last category is a severe level three, which includes both abdominal and respiratory turbulence accompanied by Headache, loss of smell, loss of appetite, cough, fever, hoarseness, sore throat, chest pain, fatigue, confusion, and muscle pain, shortness of breath, diarrhoea, and abdominal pain.