The coronavirus is not over, said Egypt’s Presidential Adviser for Health and Preventive Affairs Mohamed Awad Tag-Eddin, who stressed that the the World Health Organization still classifies it as a current global pandemic.
With the coming of a sixth wave of the coronavirus it’s more important than ever to distinguish its symptoms of that of the common cold, which has also been spreading recently.
Al-Masry Al-Youm explains the main differences and similarities between the viruses:
Symptoms of the common cold:
Runny or stuffy nose, sneezing, sore throat, decreased sense of smell or taste, cough, and fatigue.
Coronavirus symptoms:
Infection with coronavirus includes the same symptoms as the common cold, in addition to:
Fever, shortness of breath, dry cough, fatigue, headache, muscle or body aches, loss of smell or taste, nausea, and diarrhea.
It is not required that all symptoms are present in one person as they can differ from each individual in presentation and severity.
Tag-Eddin stated that while the pandemic had faded in Egypt for a period, numbers of coronavirus infections have seen an uptick since two weeks ago.
The symptoms of coronavirus are the same as the symptoms of regular influenza and cold, both involving the lower respiratory system in the lungs, inflammation in the throat, sneezing, coughing, fatigue throughout the body and fevers.
Tag-Eddin stressed that due to the contagious nature of both the coronavirus and common cold, the best measure to take is self-isolation in the case of infection and precautionary measures such as face-masks and vaccines.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
