There are now 12 official Covid symptoms after nine signs were added to the original list of three. Throughout most of the pandemic people were told to look out for a fever, new continuous cough and loss of sense or smell.
But the list was officially extended this week by the UK Health Security Agency two years after the first cases were detected in the UK.
The NHS is warning that the new symptoms added to the list "are very similar" to those for colds and flu.
Read more : Covid-19 deaths at highest rate since mid-February
It comes as new figures from the Office of National Statistics (ONS) show the number of deaths involving coronavirus registered each week in England and Wales has jumped to its highest level since mid-February. A total of 780 deaths registered in the seven days to March 25 mentioned Covid-19 on the death certificate.
This is up 14% on the previous week and follows several weeks where deaths appeared to have levelled off. The latest figures could signal the start of a new upwards trend. Find out here what a faint line on your LTF means.
The new full list of signs to look out for are:
- fever
- new continuous cough
- loss of sense of smell or taste
- shortness of breath
- feeling tired or exhausted
- aching body
- headache
- sore throat
- blocked or runny nose
- loss of appetite
- diarrhoea
- feeling sick or being sick
The World Health Organization and other countries, including the US, have used a longer list of symptoms for some time.
However, there has been debate in the UK about precisely which symptoms should be recognised and qualify somebody for a Covid test.
A headache is a known symptom of Covid, but you might not want to test everybody with one, as there are so many other causes. What you should do now in Wales if you test positive.
Fever, cough or loss of sense of smell or taste were settled on, because they were either present in most Covid cases or almost exclusively caused by the virus, but now the list of symptoms includes a further nine.
The rules on self isolation have changed in Wales in recent weeks, it is no longer compulsory to do so for five days, but people are still advised to stay at home when they test positive.
