Scientists: COVID symptoms change over time

British scientists have traced how the symptoms of the disease caused by the coronavirus changed over time, Report informs referring to a study posted on medrxiv.org, which prints digital versions of research documents on medical topics.

Specialists studied 27,700 people who became infected from April 26, 2020, to August 7, 2021. Symptoms occurred in 48 percent of cases. The comparison group included 457,000 people who passed a total of 3.8 million negative tests for coronavirus. They showed symptoms in 3 percent of cases. Scientists noted that COVID symptoms changed over time, reflecting the prevalence of a particular variant of the virus, vaccination, and random changes.

So, at the beginning of the epidemic, most of the COVID patients complained of high fever, prolonged cough, loss, or change in smell or taste. When, in January of this year, the ‘alpha’ variant began to prevail in the country, patients mainly indicated a loss of smell and taste. After the delta began to dominate in May 2021, headaches and fever became the main symptoms.

The researchers concluded that despite the severity of some of the symptoms for each strain, demographic group, or vaccination status, there is little difference between symptoms. Experts added that even the first dose of the coronavirus vaccine dramatically reduces the likelihood of symptoms.