KABUL (Pajhwok): Some health experts say the infection signs and symptoms of the mutated Covid-19 are varied and rapidly spreading compared to the previous form of the virus. According to reports, over 150 million people are infected with the virus around the world with more than127 million recovering while over 3.1 million dying.
The new variant of Covid-19 which is also called British variant, for the first time appeared in Britain and then spread to regional countries and Afghanistan through Iran and Pakistan. According to the Ministry of Public Health, over 200 cases of the mutated Covid-19 have been recorded in the country so far.
Ahmad JavadQurishi, a doctor in one of Kabul’s private hospitals, in a Facebook post about Covid-19 said, “Please keep this information and share it with your family and friends, take care and be safe.” “If you have no fever and cough, do not ignore the new signs of the virus, the second wave of Covid-19 is like a spreading fire and its signs are not like the first wave, this virus can affect both your physical and mental health,” he said in the post.
He said that people were only aware about the infection signs of the previous variant of the virus, but the new variant included signs in the tongue and small sores in the mouth in most people. “When a person is affected in the tongue, the body loses ability to provide liquid to the mouth and that causes dryness and stickiness. Infected people may have problems in talking and chewing food,” he said.
New signs in tongue, unusual cough, redness in eyes, difficulty in breathing, stomach pain, heart beats and some others are attributed to the mutated variant of Covid-19, he added. Dr. SalimAtif, another doctor in a Facebook post, tilted, “The virus has returned with more energy, new tactics and stormy.”
“We do not get cough and fever, but we feel pain in our joints, feel weakness and lose appetite, but the level of death is higher and we may get to the stormy level faster. Sometimes we do not see any signs… Please be careful,” he said in the post. “The virus no longer lives in our pharyngeal and esophageal, but directly affects the lungs, meaning that the period of the disease is short. I have seen a number of patients without fever; but the X-ray report shows that the (chest) is moderate,” he said.
He asked people to avoid crowds and use masks as well as wash their hands regularly. “This wave would be deadlier than the previous one. So we should be very careful, please spread the awareness among your friends and families,” he added. Dr. HashmatullahFaizi, a doctor in the ICU section of Afghan-Japan hospital, confirmed changes in the infection sings of new Covid-19 variant and said that besides the former signs, some new signs also appeared in the new infection.
He said that the mutated Covid-19 infection had no signs of fever, cough, sore throat and body pain, unlike the previous variant of the virus. He said that redness in eyes, difficulty in breathing, stomach pain, irregular heart beat and change in color of tongue were the new signs of the virus. He also said that the mouth of an infected person turns dry and sticky. People should not ignore these signs and take Covid-19 serious as some people do not feel these signs but are infected with the virus, he said.
He said that the new variant of the virus was spreading faster but weaker in affecting a person compared to the previous variant. However, Faizi said that the Indian variant of the virus was spreading faster and was deadlier. He called the disease an alert for people with weak immune system, women with pregnancy, people with sugar, AIDS, TB and heart diseases. The British version of the virus infects mostly people of elder ages but the Indian variant infects people of all ages, he added.
Faizi said previously mostly elder people would get infected, but now they received patients of all ages. Most of the patients hospitalized are women, he said. “We recently had two cases of the virus in children who were around 12 years of age in Afghan-Japan Hospital, they did not require oxygen inhalation but had serious signs of the virus,” he said.
Some foreign media outlets also reported children’s infection with Covid-19. An Iranian news agency in a report said that the former variant of Covid-19 was mostly infecting people of higher ages, but the new variant targeted people of lower ages including children. About vaccine, Faizi said that the current vaccine was probably not responsive to the mutated variant of Covid-19.
He asked the Ministry of Public Health to enforce restrictions on schools, universities, hotels and areas of crowds following hike in new cases of Covid-19. He also asked people to observe social distance and use masks. The Ministry of Public Health did not provide information about the new variant of the virus to a request by Pajhwok Afghan News. But the ministry had previously said that implementation of Covid-19 vaccine was underway in the country. It said that the vaccine was effective for all variants of the virus.