Cold and flu symptoms should be viewed as potential Covid cases, doctors warn
The IndependentSign up for our free Health Check email to receive exclusive analysis on the week in health Get our free Health Check email Get our free Health Check email SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Patients reporting symptoms of the common cold should be treated as possible coronavirus cases, a group of doctors has urged the government in a new open letter published by The British Medical Journal. While Covid-19 is far more severe than seasonal influenza, the two conditions do share a number of symptoms like a runny or blocked nose, a sore throat and headaches, the GPs said, arguing it was “vital” that Boris Johnson’s Cabinet raised public awareness and brought its defintion of the respiratory disease in line with that of the World Health Organisation as part of the broader campaign to tame the pandemic. “These symptoms are often inadvertently picked up while dealing with patients’ other more pressing health issues,” the collective of 140 east London physicians and healthcare workers wrote to the UK’s chief medical officer, Professor Chris Whitty. “It is vital to now change the UK Covid-19 case definition and test criteria to include coryza and cold, making them consistent with WHO.” The signatories go on to advise Professor Whitty: “Tell the public, especially those who have to go out to work and their employers, that even those with mild symptoms should not go out, prioritising the first five days of self-isolation when they are most likely to be infectious.