https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/double-jabbed-brits-suffering-worst-25179317
Double-jabbed Brits suffering 'worst colds ever' could have Covid without realising
Many Brits are currently suffering with intense cold like symptoms - including a runny nose, a sore throat, headaches, coughs and a loss of smell - which have been hard to shift even several weeks later
Brits suffering from miserable colds could actually be enduring breakthrough cases of Covid-19 without realising, potentially allowing the virus to continue to spread.
Over the past few weeks hundreds of thousands of people have been struck down by the fierce return of the common cold.
Anecdotal evidence suggests the 'worst cold ever' has spread widely, possibly fuelled by a dip in immunity after a year and a half of social distancing and mask wearing limited its potential to infect.
Rather than the usual inconveniencing runny nose and cough, the disease has been laying people out.
"The worse cold I have ever had," one Mirror reader reported.
"Usually, whenever I've had a cold I'm able to plod on through but this has completely drained me and knocked me around. I've still got it and it's been just over a week."
She added: "I'm hoping it won't last too much longer as it's that bad I wouldn't wish it on my worse enemy."
It may be that those currently in the grips of the familiar symptoms are not actually suffering from a cold, but Covid-19.
Research from the ZOE Covid App in the UK shows that the top five symptoms for those who have had both coronavirus vaccines but still contract the virus are a headache, a runny nose, sneezing, a sore throat and loss of smell.
Professor Tim Spector, lead scientists on the ZOE Covid study app, warned that confusing Covid for a cold was easy to do, and could help the virus to spread.
"The UK still has more cases than most of Europe and I believe this is for two main reasons; the first is a lack of masks and social distancing and the second is because we’re ignorant of the symptoms," he told The Mirror.
"We should be looking out for things like sore throat, runny nose and sneezing. The classic three - cough, fever and anosmia are rarer these days, yet the government has done nothing.
"By not updating advice, we’re letting people into care homes, schools, workplaces and large gatherings displaying known signs of Covid.
"Roughly, 1 in 80 people in the UK have Covid. If we don’t wake up to the fact these cold-like symptoms could be Covid, we will continue to keep numbers high, putting unnecessary strain on an exhausted NHS."
Shortness of breath, a fever and a persistent cough - the signs of a case of Covid Brits were first told to look out for last Spring - are now the 29th, 12th and 8th most common symptom respectively.
The double jabbed Covid symptoms have much more in common with those of a cold, which the NHS says include a blocked or runny nose, a sore throat, headaches, coughs and a loss of smell.
The similarities between symptoms has led some to question what exactly has made them ill.
"It completely knocked me out," another Mirror reader said.
"I was exhausted and didn’t leave bed for the first two days, missing a day of work in a new job.
"In addition to fatigue, I had aches, a headache, sore throat, runny nose and cough. Four days in I couldn’t smell.
"Despite being double vaccinated, I feared it was Covid. But a PCR test came back negative.
"I understand how it wasn’t Covid and that’s great, but when it looks like Covid and sounds like Covid, it’s still something I wouldn’t want to pass on."