A leading doctor has shared the most common Covid symptoms among children as she warns that soon parents will have no way of knowing for sure whether their kids have the virus.
Dr Helen Wall, senior responsible officer for Bolton’s Covid-19 vaccination programme, said poorly youngsters being seen by GPs at the moment 'appear to still be those with respiratory symptoms - cough, wheeze shortness of breath and fever'.
But she says there are likely to be many more that they don't see as parents are becoming more at ease with kids being unwell, without necessarily putting it down to Covid.
"There will be many more I'm sure with snuffles, colds, fevers and tummy complaints that just bumble on and get better and we never see," she said.
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"They are easily mistaken for everyday childhood viruses, which of course many of them will be - other viruses are available. Parents seem to be easing back into their children getting coughs and colds and fevers again now.
"In the lockdowns and with all the restrictions, viruses of all kinds really fell off and when children started to mix again and get sick again parents understandably were worried more. Anxiety around childhood illnesses seemed higher."
But she warned that the virus is still well and truly out there and with free mass testing soon coming to an end, it will be difficult to tell whether a child - or anyone else for that matter - has the virus.
"Essentially any sick child could be Covid," said Dr Wall. "Less and less people are testing and soon tests will be a thing of the past for many, so is it or isn’t it Covid is going to be nigh on impossible for the majority.
"In adults it will be the same, but of course less of an issue because an adult may get a fever or cold symptoms once in a while where as many young children especially if at nursery or school will be snotty the majority of the year."
As for what parents should do if they suspect a child may have Covid, she said: "As I’ve said it’s going to be tough if not impossible to know what’s Covid and what isn’t. My advice can therefore only be what I'll be adopting with my own three children, which is if there are any such symptoms - test if available, if not keep away from elderly and immunocompromised until they're better.
"I do this anyway now with my elderly father as LFTs can be negative at the start, and if you know it’s Covid as you’ve tested then stay home."
Her comments come amid concerns that Greater Manchester is 'seeing another Covid-19 wave' as cases rise in the wake of the removal of safety measures by the government.
Professor Kate Ardern, Greater Manchester’s lead director of public health, says cases are ‘unsurprisingly’ climbing, just short of three weeks after the rollback of the remaining Covid-19 precautions.
And, without the free mass testing due to end this month, medical leaders could be operating in the dark as they are forced to use out-of-date data, giving them ‘insufficient’ information and time to plan for outbreaks.
