THE SYMPTOMS, SEVERITY, AND TRANSMISSIBILITY O F THE TWO STRAINS.
Coronaviruses (CoV) are a broad group of viruses that can cause everything from a typical cold to more serious illnesses. A novel coronavirus (nCoV) is a new strain of coronavirus that has never been seen in humans before. In Wuhan, China, the first SARS-CoV-2 illnesses were detected. The source of viral transmission to humans, as well as whether the virus became harmful before or after the spillover event, are unknown.
In Thailand, the Delta version of COVID-19 is no longer the most common source of iinfection. Omicron now accounts for the bulk of COVID-19 cases in the world, just weeks after it was discovered in South Africa and labeled a “variant of concern” by the World Health Organization (WHO).
Scientists are trying to figure out what makes Omicron different from other variations as it spreads across the world. Information is slowly coming together— Omicron, for example, is less likely to cause severe illness, but it also spreads more easily, even among the vaccinated—but there are still many things we don’t know, which is why maintaining (or ramping up) COVID-19 safety precautions is more important than ever.
The SARS-CoV-2 virus is the same whether we’re talking about Delta or Omicron (or any other COVID-19 variant)—which means that while some symptoms may be more obvious or noticeable in one strain versus the other, the symptoms of all COVID-19 variants will be comparable, according to the CDC.
To clarify, COVID-19 can cause a wide range of symptoms, ranging from mild to severe sickness, according to the CDC. The following are the most prevalent symptoms associated with COVID-19 in general, though this is not a full list: fever or chills, cough, shortness of breath/difficulty breathing, fatigue, muscle or body aches, headache, new loss of taste or smell, sore throat, congestion or runny nose, nausea or vomiting, diarrhea.
There is no official advice on whether symptoms are more common with specific strains of the virus, but there have been a few anecdotal accounts on both variations’ symptoms.
In June, Tim Spector, a genetic epidemiologist at King’s College London who helps lead the ZOE COVID Study, told The New York Times that the Delta variant looked to cause more headaches, sore throats, and runny noses. Fever, cough, and loss of smell, on the other hand, were noted less frequently.
Omicron, too, appears to be causing more cold-like symptoms: The top five symptoms associated with confirmed or suspected cases of the Omicron variety, according to data collected again by the ZOE COVID Study—which compels participants to register their disease symptoms through an app—are runny nose, headache, weariness, sneezing, and sore throat. Like Delta, Omicron sufferers are less likely to have fever, cough, or a loss of smell or taste. “There is no evident difference in the symptom profile of Delta and Omicron,” according to the ZOE COVID Study’s findings.
