The United Kingdom has officially added the loss of taste and smell to their coronavirus symptoms list.
Until now, only a fever and cough were acceptable symptoms for coronavirus patients before being asked to go into self-isolation.
Some countries, including the US, have already added the symptom to help health workers spot potential patients.
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“Anosmia is the loss or a change in your normal sense of smell. It can also affect your sense of taste as the two are closely linked.
“We have been closely monitoring the emerging data and evidence on Covid-19 and after thorough consideration, we are now confident enough to recommend this new measure.
“The individual’s household should also self-isolate for 14 days as per the current guidelines and the individual should stay at home for 7 days, or longer if they still have symptoms other than cough or loss of sense of smell or taste.”
The statement was signed by the four chief medical officers of the United Kingdom: Prof. Chris Whitty in England, Dr. Gregor Smith in Scotland, Dr. Frank Atherton in Wales, and Dr. Michael McBride in Northern Ireland.
Prof. Nirmal Kumar, the president of ENT (Ear, Nose, and Throat surgery) told the Daily Mail: “We’re relieved that this has finally been accepted but we alerted people about this eight weeks ago. Everyone else, including the World Health Organization, took it up urgently, but it has certainly taken too long here.
“The prevalence is widespread. We used to see these patients occasionally but now we see them regularly. If we had recognised this earlier, we would have reduced the spread. The reproduction rate of the virus would have been lower.”