‘I’m a doctor and THIS is the telltale sign at night that you could have been hit by Omicron’
DOCTORS have revealed a telltale sign which only happens at night that could mean you have been hit by the Omicron variant.
The rapid spread of the new mutation has left Brits on tenterhooks as Christmas approaches.
The UK's daily Omicron cases have trebled in the last 24 hours, with 10,059 new infections recorded.
Medics in the UK have said that the best way to protect yourself from Omicron is to get your booster vaccine, with early data suggesting it pushes efficacy back up to 75 per cent.
The Sun's Jabs Army is urging volunteers to come forward to help Give Britain a Booster.
Dr Jenny Harries, UK Health Security Agency chief executive, said: "Once again, we urge everyone who is able to get a booster jab to come forward and do so.
"It is the best defence we have against this highly transmissible new variant."
Thousands of Brits have already signed up to the campaign, helping to dish out almost one million jabs in a single day in England.
Now doctors in South Africa - where Omicron originally emerged - have explained those suffering from the new strain have reported experiencing a specific symptom when the lights go out.
Doctors said many patients have suffered from night sweats, which occurs when you sweat so much your nightwear and bedding are soaking wet, even though where you are sleeping is cool.
Typical Covid symptoms currently include a dry, continuous cough, a high temperature and a loss of your sense of taste or smell.
But experts are now urging the NHS to change its official list of symptoms as reports continue to emerge of indicators that are different to those seen in other variants that have been circulating.
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Speaking to ITV's Lorraine, Dr Amir Khan explained updating the symptoms would allow the NHS to keep track of cases and make infections easier to detect.
He said: "The symptoms that are coming out of South Africa by the doctors that are looking after patients with Omicron show these five new symptoms.
"A scratchy throat, mild muscle aches, extreme tiredness, a dry cough and night sweats.
"Those kind of drenching night sweats where you might have to get up and change your clothes. And this is important.
"It’s important we keep on top of these symptoms, because if we’re going to keep track of Omicron here and worldwide we need to be able to test people with these symptoms.
"If they go onto the NHS website and say I’ve got night sweats and I’ve got muscle aches, they may not be able to book a PCR test.
"So we need the NHS website to keep up with these symptoms."
Data coming out of South Africa also shows that lower back pain could be another symptom.
It's important that if you think you have Covid then you get a test and isolate in order to stop the spread of the virus.
These new symptoms could mean that many people are missing infections as a scratchy throat could be part of a cold, and many people could mistake back pain for common aches and niggles.
South African medics - who have seen the majority of cases so far - said new cases of the Omicron variant are resulting in mostly mild symptoms, with patients having flu-like illnesses.
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Just last week a study revealed that a booster jab could keep us out of lockdowns.
Any two doses plus a Pfizer booster give up to 75 per cent protection, experts say.
