Symptoms of new Kraken Covid variant are different to past strains – the 20 signs to watch for

WHEN Covid first emerged across the world, having a high temperature was a key sign you had the disease.

But as the virus continues to mutate, the most common symptoms of the bug change too.

GettyA decline in fever symptoms suggests immunity among the population is high[/caption]

A high temperature – once one of the most prevalent Covid symptoms – has fallen of the top 20 list of symptoms for the first time, according to data from the ZOE Health Study, seen by The i paper.

The decline in fever symptoms, suggests immunity among the population is much higher than it has been in the past – thanks in part, to the mammoth vaccine rollout.

A fever is typically a strong immune response to a bug or virus.

This raised hopes that the new Kraken variant, which was predicted to become dominant in the UK by the end of the month, won’t have as much of an impact as previous strains on the bug.

It’s a sub-variant of the Omicron strain, which has been found to be more mild than the original variant, and early strains that forced lockdowns across the world.

Speaking to The Sun, Jonathan Ball, professor of virology at Nottingham University, said the fact a fever is no longer a key symptom of Covid does not suggest the new variant is milder, but, that people have become better at fighting the virus.

“Changes in mild symptoms don’t tell us much about the disease”, he said.

“What they do tell us is how good our immune system is at dealing with these changes when they occur.

“For the vast majority of people our defences have got pretty good at engaging with the enemy, that’s why we don’t see as much severe disease,” he added.

According to recent data, Covid cases in the UK have risen sharply by 25 per cent in the past week, with the new Kraken variant gaining momentum.

On January 16, 11 per cent of cases were accounted for by this new strain – formally known as XBB.1.5, data from the Global Initiative on Sharing Avian Influenza Data (GISAID) suggest.

The new version of the bug has gained additional mutations which make it better at evading immunity and therefore “more infectious”, Prof Francois Balloux of the UCL Genetics Institute has said.

He added: “It is widely anticipated to go up in frequency globally, and may cause a sizeable fraction of cases globally in the near future. 

“As such, it could push up case numbers over the coming weeks in the UK.”

However, Prof Jonathan said there was “no evidence it’s more dangerous” than current strains.

“It might be able to escape antibodies, but that’s not the only immunity we have. 

“Our immune system is used to adapting to viruses,” he explained.

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