Health experts have identified ten symptoms which may force you to stay at home for Christmas this year.
If you have any of these ailments, you should think about putting the safety of yourself and others first and stay at home during the festive period.
Boris Johnson has not banned Christmas parties this year but people should still be cautious and be aware the coronavirus pandemic is still ongoing, as the Mirror reports.
READ MORE - Edinburgh police officer says he is haunted by Sheila Anderson's unsolved murder
Although we are promised a better Christmas than last year, the threat of the Omicron variant has meant new restrictions and changes within the UK are possible in the near future.
Many of the symptoms are similar to cold-like conditions which people should be on the look out for.
Tim Spector, from the Covid Zoe app, said those with cold-like symptoms should work from home and avoid parties at Christmas to curb the spread of coronavirus.
He told Times Radio, the UK should be "much more open-minded about who we are testing" and "get more people to isolate at least for a few days with cold-like symptoms."
"At the moment, we’re estimating that somewhere between one and three and one in four colds are actually due to Covid," he said.
"And so that’s quite a high rate of people that are currently not even bothered to get a lateral flow test, or getting a PCR test, going to parties and spreading it around.
"So if that transfers to Omicron then we’re going to be compiling that problem much faster than we would need to."
The Liverpool Echo added: "We want to tell people that if you don’t feel well that day, don’t go out, don’t go to work, work from home, because the start of that sniffle, the start of that sore throat, that headache could be a mild dose of Covid that is just breaking through your vaccine.
"So I think everyone needs to be much more aware of a whole range of symptoms and not wait for the loss of smell or taste which may never come, not wait for fever, not wait for that persistent cough."
Many of the symptoms we have already become accustomed to over the past two years, but are similar to a common cold.
The symptoms to be aware of include:
1. A high temperature. This means you feel hot to touch on your chest or back (you do not need to measure your temperature)
2. A new, continuous cough. This 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)
3. A loss or change to your sense of smell or taste. This means you've noticed you cannot smell or taste anything, or things smell or taste different to normal.
4. Night sweats when you sweat so much that your night clothes and bedding are soaking wet, even though where you are sleeping is cool.
5. A blocked or runny nose
6. A sore throat
7. Headaches
8. Muscle aches
9. Sneezing
10. Pressure in your ears and face
The ten symptoms do not mean you have the virus and could simply be a cold.
But people area advised to pick up a lateral flow test or go for a PCR test if they are in any doubt they have the virus, particularly since the Omicron strain which is more infectious.
