Scientists have confirmed the first 'unusual' symptom in patients testing positive for the new Omicron variant of Covid - and it affects the throat.
People who have fallen ill with the deadly virus have reported a "scratchy throat", according to medical reports.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) studied 43 cases of people that had come down with the new strain of coronavirus in America.
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It found that the most common symptoms found in those with Omicron had a ‘cough’ - with 89 per cent of people claiming to have experienced this.
Researchers in South Africa have previously described this cough as “dry” before it is then accompanied by a “scratchy throat”.
Symptoms of Omicron are also said to be milder in people who have been vaccinated and those who have previously come down with Covid infection that unvaccinated people.
The strain spreads faster than previous variant, although so far few hospitalisations have been reported, Wales Online writes.
“Many of the first reported cases of Omicron variant infection appear to be mild, although as with all variants, a lag exists between infection and more severe outcomes," explained the authors of the CDC report.
“Symptoms would be expected to be milder in vaccinated persons and those with previous SARS-CoV-2 infection than in unvaccinated persons.
“Characteristics of the cases described in this report might also not be generalisable because case findings might be associated with individual characteristics.”
Only seven percent of 43 subjects presented with ‘asymptomatic’ infection or ‘unknown’ symptoms, with 93 per cent of cases deemed symptomatic.
“Even if most infections are mild, a highly transmissible variant could result in enough cases to overwhelm health systems,” wrote the authors elsewhere in the report.
The report lists cough (89 percent), fatigue (65 percent) and congestion or runny nose (59 percent) as the three most common symptoms.
Shortness of breath (16 percent), diarrhoea (11 percent) and loss of taste or smell (eight percent) all featured at the bottom of the CDC’s list.
