The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare released a revised treatment protocol for coronavirus patients in the country. It has added new symptoms of COVID-19 in a document published for use by health professionals as a reference. The Ministry added loss of smell (anosmia) and loss of taste (ageusia) to the list of symptoms of COVID-19. Other symptoms of the COVID-19 include:
- Fever
- Cough
- Fatigue
- Shortness of breath
- Expectoration
- Myalgia
- Rhinorrhoea, sore throat, diarrhoea
“Older people and immune-suppressed patients, in particular, may present atypical symptoms such as fatigue, reduced alertness, reduced mobility, diarrhoea, loss of appetite, delirium, and absence of fever. Children might not have reported fever or cough as frequently as adults,” the ministry said. The document released by the Health Ministry says that most patients with COVID-19 patients predominantly have a respiratory tract infection associated with SARS-Cov-2 infection.
As per data from Integrated Health Information Platform/ Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme portal case investigation forms for COVID-19, the details on the signs and symptoms reported are fever (27%), cough (21%), sore throat (10%), breathlessness (8%), Weakness (7%), running nose (3%) and others 24%”, it added. The United States’ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had included loss of taste or smell among its list of COVID-19 symptoms in April.
India also revised the protocol for clinical management of COVID-19 to include use of antiviral drug Remdesivir and off-label use of Tocilizumab and convalescent plasma therapy on very specific groups of patients. Meanwhile, hydroxychloroquine will also continue to be used.
