What are Covid symptoms? New study suggests headache and chills signs of disease

Chills, a loss of appetite, headaches and muscle aches could be signs of the disease

Fever is one of the three 'classic' signs of Covid-19 (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

A year into the pandemic, most people now know the classic three symptoms of Covid-19: a new, continuous cough, fever and loss or change to smell and taste.

These are the signs recognised by the NHS, which says that most people with the virus experience at least one of these symptoms. Loss of smell was only added to the UK's official list in May 2020.

Now, a new study has suggested there could be four further indications of Covid-19 to look out for.

New symptoms

Chills, a loss of appetite, headaches and muscle aches might be added to the list of signs of the disease following a study of more than one million people in England.

Researchers examined swab tests and questionnaires as part of Imperial College London’s React study, carried out between June 2020 and January 2021, with the results pointing to a potential need to update public health guidance.

Paul Elliott, director of the React programme at Imperial College London, said: “These new findings suggest many people with Covid-19 won’t be getting tested—and therefore won't be self-isolating—because their symptoms don’t match those used in current public health guidance to help identify infected people.

“I hope that our findings on the most informative symptoms mean that the testing programme can take advantage of the most up to date evidence, helping to identify more infected people.”

Age variation

The research suggested that symptoms tended to vary according to age.

While chills were connected to a positive test across all ages, headaches were reported more in young people between five and 17.

Muscle aches and appetite loss were mostly reported in people aged between 18 and 54.

Infected 5-17-year-olds were also reported fever, persistent cough and appetite loss less frequently than adults.

The study, which has not yet been peer-reviewed, found that around 60 per cent of people infected with the virus did not experience any symptoms in the week leading up to their positive test.

The new findings follow research that found that 40 per cent of people with evidence of past infection did not have any of the three typical symptoms — fever, persistent dry cough, or loss of sense of taste or smell.

New virus variant

The team also examined the impact of the highly transmissible variant first detected in Kent (B.1.1.7), which is now the dominant variant in the UK. They discovered that it was responsible for 86 per cent of cases in January, compared 16 per cent in November.

The study that patients infected with the Kent variant were less likely to report loss or change of taste or smell, but reported coughing in higher numbers.

Implications for testing

Under 'Pillar 2 testing', people are currently being advised to take a test if they have one of the main three symptoms.

Based on their research, the team estimate that current Pillar 2 testing would detect about half of all symptomatic infections if everyone eligible were tested.

This could rise to three-quarters of symptomatic cases if the new symptoms are included.