Fears over new Covid Centaurus variant as experts explain key symptoms

Experts are concerned about a new variant of Covid that has been identified - and given the codename Centaurus. It comes as nine key symptoms of the virus have been listed and experts explain how to tell the difference between an ordinary sore throat and Covid.

There are concerns about another subvariant of Omicron known as BA.2.75, a variant already nicknamed “Centaurus”. Centaurus contains a significant number of mutations.

Dr Stephen Griffin of the University of Leeds said: “This could mean that it has had the chance to evolve an advantage over an already successful virus lineage.”

The Centaurus variant was first detected in India in May and is spreading quickly, It has already been detected in the UK - as well as the US, Australia. Germany, Canada and at least four other countries.

The World Health Organisation is closely monitoring the new variant and it has been designated as 'under monitoring' by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control. Dr Tom Peacock, a virologist at Imperial College London, said: “It’s hard to predict the effect of that many mutations appearing together – it gives the virus a bit of a ‘wildcard’ property where the sum of the parts could be worse than the parts individually."

There are fears Centaurus could become the new dominant strain. Antoine Flahault, director of the Institute of Global Health at the University of Geneva said that Centaurus might be more contagious than BA.5 Omicron subvariant given the severe spike of cases in India.

He said it appears to be becoming the dominant strain in India and poses the question of whether it will become the most prevalent one all over the world.

Covid often creates a sore throat and it can be difficult to tell whether you have the virus, or a common cold. But experts say there is a way, reports The Express. The team behind the UK’s ZOE Covid Symptom Study app says a sore throat caused by Covid lasts no more than five days and will normally improve “quite quickly” and will feel “worse on the first day of infection but get better on each following day”.

According to the latest NHS advice, other symptoms of Covid to look out for include:

• A high temperature or shivering
• A new, continuous cough
• A loss or change to your sense of smell or taste
• Shortness of breath
• Feeling tired or exhausted
• An aching body
• A headache
• A blocked or runny nose
• Loss of appetite
• Diarrhoea
• Feeling or being sick

With the lifting of all restrictions, there are no longer any legal requirements to self-isolate after diagnosis with COVID-19.

However, the NHS says people should: “Try to stay at home and avoid contact with other people if you have symptoms of COVID-19 and either a high temperature or they do not feel well enough to conduct normal activities.”

They also add people should: “Take extra care to avoid close contact with anyone who is at higher risk of getting seriously ill from COVID-19.”

In the past week the UK recorded its highest number of cases since mass testing began.

This has been driven by two subvariants of Omicron known as BA.4 and BA.5.

A UK Health Minister this week said Covid restrictions may have to return, and the World Health Organisation is urging countries to bring back mandatory mask-wearing.

A total of 200,247 people in the UK have had Covid-19 recorded on their death certificate since the pandemic began, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

Dr Michael Head, senior research fellow in global health at the University of Southampton, said “the vast majority” of the 200,000 deaths “were preventable”, but they occurred because of “a series of policy failures at national level”, including the late implementation of lockdowns in March 2020 and a failure to step up restrictions over Christmas 2020 when the Alpha variant was spreading.

He added: “It’s important to remember that for every death there will be many more hospitalisations, long Covid, and other indirect burdens such as greater impact on other areas of the UK health service and socio-economic consequences such as bereavements and inability to work.

“Recorded Covid-19 deaths are the tip of a very unpleasant and far-reaching iceberg.”