The 2 ‘strange’ Omicron symptoms – and how fast they strike
OMICRON is still rife in the UK, with thousands catching the bug every day.
It is a milder illness, especially in the vaccinated, but can still throw up some strange and uncomfortable symptoms.
The first official UK report revealed the risk of hospitalisation with Omicron in the jabbed is 50 to 70 per cent lower than with Delta.
Covid boosters protect against Omicron and offer the best chance to get through the pandemic, health officials have repeatedly said.
The Sun's Jabs Army campaign is helping get the vital extra vaccines in Brits' arms to ward off the need for any new restrictions.
Two strange symptoms that have popped up for sufferers are pink eye or conjunctivitis and hair loss.
Eye trouble can appear alongside other symptoms, which is within about two days for Omicron, and hair loss is more likely near the end of an illness.
According to Healthline, the virus enters the body's cells through receptors for the enzyme called angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) by tricking it into thinking it's the enzyme rather than Covid.
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The ACE2 receptors are found in parts of the eyes, such as the retina and the epithelial cells that line the eye white and eyelid.
And although hair loss is not a typical Covid symptom, according to the American Academy of Dermatology Association hair shedding is quite common after a high fever.
Hair loss or telogen effluvium as it's medically known happens when more hairs than normal enter their “shedding” phase of the hair growth lifecycle.
According to research so far, Omicron results in milder illness than the Delta variant did – especially for vaccinated people.
Experts across the globe have also highlighted at least eight early warning signs of Omicron you should never ignore.
It's thought these tend to come on quickly and quite early in the illness, from about two days after exposure.
They seem to last for around five days, but of course can go quicker, and some can linger.
If you have Covid symptoms of any kind, you should get a PCR test and self-isolate until the results come back.
The common early warning signs of Omicron include:
- Scratchy throat
- Lower back pain
- Runny nose/congestion
- Headache
- Fatigue
- Sneezing
- Night sweats
- Body aches
They are noticeably different to the classic trio of Covid symptoms which are a cough, fever and loss of taste or smell.
It comes as the PM insisted Britain can “ride out the Omicron wave”, despite staff sickness hitting transport and schools.
As a record 218,000 new Covid cases were confirmed yesterday, Boris Johnson ruled out any new curbs.
Further restrictions would damage “people’s life chances, mental health and the economy”, he warned.
But he accepted the weeks ahead will be “challenging” and “some services will be disrupted”.
It came as Omicron-related isolations saw rail services cancelled, bins overflowing and schools hit.
An estimated one million Brits were off work yesterday as daily UK infection rates rose above 200,000 for the first time.
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