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The symptoms of the Indian Variant
Tim Wyatt
The continued spread of a new variant of the coronavirus that has appeared in India has upset the celebrations as most of the UK takes another step out of the lockdown on Monday.
Known to scientists as B.617.2, the Indian variant is responsible for clusters of cases in places like Bolton which has seen a serious spike in infections and hospitalisations.
Although experts are still studying how it differs from the strains of Covid already prevalent in the UK, it is believed to be significantly more transmissible than B.7, the form of coronavirus that is mainly already spread across the country.
According to Public Health England, cases of the Indian variant have more than doubled from 520 to 1,313 in only a week.
The number of people currently infected with B.617.2 will be even higher as this data from May 5th and not all infected have been tested.
Although the Indian variant of Covid is likely to spread faster than other strains, there is no evidence that it is more dangerous or that vaccines are not effective against it.
Similarly, the key symptoms associated with B.617.2 infection are the same as normal COVID-19:
A new, persistent cough
A high temperature
The loss of taste or smell
The spread of the Indian variant has not been seen as a sufficient threat to postpone the next step out of the May 17th lockdown, but there is growing speculation that the final stage currently slated for June 21st may need to be postponed.
While the vast majority of those vaccinated are protected from the fastest-spreading strain of coronavirus, if enough people refuse to take the injection when offered the most transmissble variant could still wreak havoc and feae.
Source: The independent
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