One in five people still present less common symtoms of Covid, meaning 20% of cases are missed, a lead scientist has warned. 

10 months after the initial nationawide lockdown in March 2020, the UK public are aware of the main symptoms to look out for.

Currently, there are three “main symptoms” of Covid-19 that the public have been made aware of:

  • A high temperature, which means you feel hot to touch on your chest or back
  • A new, continuous cough, which means coughing a lot for more than an hour, or three or more coughing episodes in 24 hours (if you usually have a cough, it may be worse than usual)
  • A loss or change to your sense of taste or smell, which means that you may have noticed that you cannot smell or taste anything, or things smell or taste differently to normal

However, these aren’t the only symptoms that can appear in Covid-19 positive patients.

One of the newest symptoms you should be looking out for according to experts is Covid tongue.

What is Covid tongue?

Tim Spector, lead scientist on the ZOE COVID Symptom Study app, and Professor of Genetic Epidemiology at King’s College London, tweeted about the new symptom on 13 January.

He wrote: “One in five people with Covid still present with less common symptoms that don’t get on the official PHE list - such as skin rashes.

“Seeing increasing numbers of Covid tongues and strange mouth ulcers. If you have a strange symptom or even just a headache and fatigue, stay at home!”

He included a picture of a tongue with strange markings on it.

What other symptoms should I be aware of?

There are a number of other symptoms associated with Covid-19 outside of the top three included in the official guidance from the Government and the NHS.

Spector says, “People need to know all the symptoms and not just focus on the three ‘official’ symptoms that miss over 20 per cent of cases.

“Headache, fatigue, diarrhoea, muscle pain, skipping meals and confusion are just some of the other symptoms associated with Covid-19.

“If anyone is suffering from any of these over the coming weeks, stay at home, self isolate and get a test.”