Covid symptoms and differences with flu and colds. What to do?

Covid symptoms, what are the differences with those of flu or cold? This is a question that the thousands of Italians who are spending these holidays in bed will be asking themselves, with the peak which according to experts will be reached around New Year's Eve.
The Covid numbers in Italy emerging from the latest bulletin issued – the one relating to the week between 14 and 20 December – are starting to become worrying: 60,556 new confirmed cases and another 425 deaths.
Since this virus appeared, upending our lives for two years, the total number of deceased people in our country has reached the figure of 194,489, with the sad milestone of 200,000 deaths which could be reached shortly at this rate.
Those over 80 and the frail are most at risk of complications, categories for which the Ministry of Health has strongly recommended – without however great results – to carry out the booster of the Covid vaccine.
However, the recent Covid data in Italy could be widely underestimated given that fewer and fewer swabs are being done, with the symptoms of the virus often being confused with those of the flu or a cold.
Let's see in detail what the Covid symptoms of this new wave are, the differences with those of the flu or cold and what to do to distinguish them, especially now that many people gather at home for the holidays.
read also Can we go out with Covid? The updated rules Covid symptoms At the moment in Italy the most widespread Covid variant is JN.1 responsible for half of the new cases in the Bel Paese.
However, the Eris variants – which were dominant until recently – and Pirola are also circulating in the country.
According to experts, the JN.1 variant is not more dangerous than the others, but it has a greater infectious capacity and is spreading very quickly.
Its symptoms are the classic ones of Covid: fever even above 38°, cough, muscle pain, headache, nasal congestion, fatigue and loss of taste and smell.
The symptoms of the Eris variant are very similar: high fever (generally two or three days), dry cough, muscle pain, headache, nasal congestion, sore throat, nausea, diarrhea, difficulty breathing and loss of taste and smell.
In summary, these are currently the five most common symptoms of Covid variants in Italy: even high fever; cough; a runny nose; heachache; fatigue.
Since it appeared in Italy at the end of the summer, the Eris variant has generally been considered more dangerous than the previous ones, although it is often asymptomatic in younger people.
Despite the high contagiousness of these variants, for the health authorities in Italy we would not be faced with a new Covid alarm with the invitation which is always to resort to vaccination for the weakest groups.
How to distinguish Covid from flu or cold In the week before Christmas it was estimated that there were 883,000 cases of flu in Italy, a clear increase compared to the previous seven days; according to the data, the most affected were children under the age of 4.
Of the people who showed symptoms of the flu, 12.5% later tested positive for Covid.
The most common symptoms of this year's flu are chills, sudden high fever, dry cough, fatigue, muscle aches, congested nose, sneezing, headache, loss of appetite and diarrhea.
Nausea and vomiting may also often occur among children.
As you can see, the symptoms of Covid and flu are essentially identical, with the only difference appearing to be the loss of smell in the first case and of appetite in the second.
The best method to distinguish Covid from the flu is always to carry out a swab even in do-it-yourself mode.
also read DIY swab, how to do it at home and read the result