With the chill of winter upon us, Dr Helen Wall has been sharing vital information about the emerging strain, which could soon become the most dominant yet. The BBC Breakfast doc expressed concern that XEC Covid is "really wiping people out" and noted that its symptoms are increasingly resembling those of common illnesses like flu and colds, making it harder to identify. Speaking to Manchester Evening News , the Greater Manchester doctor discussed how the new variant is affecting her practice and highlighted some key warning signs that the public should be aware of.
As respiratory illnesses typically increase during this season, Dr Wall pointed out that XEC Covid is becoming more widespread, although it's not yet clear if this is due to higher transmissibility. She explained: "I suspect more because they always are. But we don’t know what the situation is.
At the moment, it seems to be a bit more flu-like than previous iterations of Covid , with a high temperature, a cough, aching body, headache." She added an important distinction between flu and Covid : "Generally, if you’ve got true flu, you’re bed-bound. With Covid , you might actually be quite well.
"You might be coughing and having other symptoms, but able to go about your business – and you might be unintentionally spreading it to people who are vulnerable." A new Covid variant, XEC, is causing a stir among health experts as it combines two existing strains and has genetic ties to Omicron. Researchers believe i.
