Symptoms of COVID-19 and when should you consult a doctor

Bhubaneswar: Have you lately experienced your heart pounding or the air around you turning sore after you have had a sneeze or cough?

With the novel coronavirus gradually flaring its wings of terror over the human race, now is not a good time to fall sick, especially with a cold or flu. As the COVID-19 virus resonates various symptoms that are similar to common cold and flu, it’s the need of the hour to learn to differentiate between these viral infections.

Here are some check-points that distinguish between common cold, influenza and COVID-19 infections:

1. Common cold causes mild infection in the upper respiratory tract and have symptoms like sore throat, heavy head and blocked nose. Whereas, COVID-19 infection leads to coughing, shortness of breath, fever and in serious cases, it can cause pneumonia and kidney failure, ultimately claiming lives of the infected.
2. Flu symptoms due to COVID-19 infection, unlike influenza virus infections, will cause loss of appetite in a person, diarrhoea and stomach pain.
3. The incubation period (time between infection and appearance of symptoms) of common cold is within the first 2-3 days of the infection. But, the incubation period of COVID-19 is between 2-14 days.
4. Influenza virus tend to transmit within the first 3-5 days while COVID-19 virus can transmit from an infected within 24-48 hours of onset of symptoms.
5. COViD-19 virus can cause secondary infection in 2-2.5 individual which is quite a high rate of infection than the influenza virus.
6. Influenza virus drives primarily through children but COVID-19 virus tends to transmit to children from adults.

COVID-19 virus like any other influenza virus transmit through contact and droplets from mouth or nose of the infected. Like influenza, it also attacks the respiratory system of a human but it stands out from other coronaviruses as it claims lives by pneumonia or acute respiratory failure. What makes it lethal is, there is no certified cure for it and medical experts presume, it will take at least a year to come up with a vaccine to fight the COVID-19 infection.

Human race is currently battling with a virus whose cure is yet to be discovered. In such circumstances, the only possible way to stay safe is by abiding the expert precautionary measures, practicing basic hygiene and staying indoors, away from social gathering.

While frequent hand washing and social distancing have proved to be effective to keep the infection at bay, you should consult a medical practitioner should the COVID-19 symptoms appear.