A KEY Omicron symptom affects men and women differently, a study has revealed.
Fatigue has been a feature of Covid throughout all the variants, but new research has shown it hits women harder.
A poll by Web MD asked users how often they had fatigue from December 23 to January 4.
A third of men said they had suffered with it, but 40 per cent of women reported they struggled with feeling weary due to Covid.
When Omicron emerged in South Africa one of the main symptoms was fatigue.
Dr Angelique Coetzee, a private practitioner and chair of the South African Medical Association, said the main symptoms of Omicron in the early stages were fatigue, body aches and headache.
Another expert said it can be hard to distinguish whether or not fatigue is down to Covid-19 as people can sometimes put it down to other lifestyle factors.
Studies have found fatigue is present in 62 per cent of Covid cases.
Infectious disease expert Dr Sachin Nagrani said it is defined as extreme tiredness resulting from mental or physical exertion or illness.
“As an acute symptom, while new fatigue could be an early marker of a COVID-19 infection, the fatigue could easily be due to another cause.
“It’s also important to remember that many cases of Covid-19 have no symptoms at all, which is one reason it has continued to spread so easily”, he told Good Housekeeping.
Around 20 symptoms have been regularly logged by unwell Brits as they catch Covid.
These include a runny nose, headache, fatigue, altered smell and skipped meals.
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It’s especially helpful to know what symptoms they have when infected with the variant, as it helps others look for clues they too could be ill.
The NHS still lists a new persistent cough, a loss of taste and smell and a high temperature as the key signs of Covid.
But it’s important that if you think you have Covid from any known symptom you get a test and isolate for five days full days and take lateral flows to be released.
While Covid won’t be a mild illness for everyone, most people who have had the variant say it’s like a cold.
A string of hugely positive studies show Omicron is milder than other strains in the vaccinated, with the first official UK report revealing the risk of hospitalisation is 50 to 70 per cent lower than with Delta.
It comes as cases of the variant are starting to drop, after rising to record highs in the new year.
