A crooked nose should be considered a Covid symptom, family doctors said.
A group of more than 140 doctors, writing in the British Medical Journal, urges the chief physician to include symptoms such as runny or blocked nose, muscle aches and headaches as criteria for a test.
They say that at this time they should encourage patients who prove to have coronavirus to lie about their symptoms to access a test, which means that too many cases are missed.
Dr. Alex Sohal, a family physician in East London and a lecturer at Queen Mary University in London, said he regularly examines patients with mild symptoms – for example, a curved or blocked nose, sore throat, hoarseness, muscle aches, fatigue and headache – which later prove to be Covid positive.
She writes: “These patients did not even consider that they could have Covid-19 and did not self-isolate in the first crucial days, when they were most infectious.”
Some patients are now encouraged to be dishonest in accessing Covid-19 tests, she said in a letter from 140 family doctors.
The national advertising campaign focuses on coughing, high temperature and loss of smell or taste as symptoms you should be aware of – only patients with these symptoms can access a Covid-19 test online via the NHS test booking site. Family physicians should advise patients to be dishonest to take a Covid-19 test. ”