Since the beginning of the pandemic, researchers have been trying to understand the virus, how it spreads and what its symptoms are.
For almost two years we have known that a new, continuous cough, a loss of taste and a high temperature are among the 21 signs that an individual has covid.
However new research from the ZOE Covid Symptom study at King’s College London found that a loss of smell was one of the strongest indicators of whether a person has contracted the virus.
Researchers looked at data from more than 10 million respondents from April 1 2020 to July 31 2020, analysing half a million covid tests and millions of health reports.
The research read: "The analysis showed that loss of smell (anosmia) or loss of taste (ageusia) was consistently the strongest predictor of a COVID-19 infection across all platforms, regions, and populations. In fact, someone with either of those symptoms was 17 times more likely to test positive for covid than someone without.
"What’s more, loss of smell or taste remained the best predictor of a positive test result regardless of a person’s age, sex, or illness severity. However, the team’s analysis also showed that having a high temperature (fever) and lung symptoms like shortness of breath or coughing were also strongly associated with having a positive covid test"
As a result of their findings, anosmia was added to the list of official covid symptoms meaning people experiencing this should arrange to get an NHS PCR test, especially if it is alongside a cough or a fever.
