In a few more months it will be two years since Coronavirus broke into the world and still new symptoms are emerging every time. Taskforce for covid-19 has urged physicians to suspect Covid infection even in the cases where distinctive signs such as cough, sore throat, shortness of breath are missing after the reduced hearing, headache, etc have made an appearance as newer Covid symptoms.
Speaking to TOI, Dr Rahul Pandit, who is a member of the Covid task force has listed out a few new symptoms of Covid infection that have been emerging in patients.
The doctor said trouble in hearing, conjunctivitis, extreme weakness, dry mouth, and reduced saliva secretion, long-lasting headache, and skin rashes could indicate signs of Covid-19 too.
During a virtual meeting with Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray, Dr Pandit also warned of losing guard against Covid and said that though the illness has been around 17 months, yet newer symptoms are developing and one has to become vigilant about the virus.
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However, Dr Samir Bhargava, head of ENT at RN Cooper Hospital hinted that hearing damage as a result of Covid is rare.
Auditory nerve inflammation or clotting caused by the infection could impact hearing in the same way it affects the sense of smell. In recent times, India has not seen any high bounce in Covid fresh cases of sudden hearing loss, said Dr Bhargava adding that patients in those rare hearing loss cases are being treated with steroids.
Giving out details about varying levels of Covid symptoms, Dr Sanjay Oak, chairman of the task force said that during the second wave of the pandemic that was steered by Delta variant several victims suffered from gastrointestinal symptoms, including diarrhoea, nausea, and vomiting, although the magnitude of fever differed from person to person.
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Some didn't have any fever while some got an abrupt burst, few in intervals of two-three days, while in many cases fever completely receded only to return with harshness.