Thousands of people across the UK are coming down with the “worst cold ever” as the country reopens from coronavirus lockdowns.
Stories about the “super cold” have dominated British media in recent weeks and there have been tens of thousands of internet searches for “worst cold ever”.
Many have taken to Twitter, Facebook and TikTok to complain that they’re unable to shake the bug.
Reported symptoms include “sandpaper throat”, head and body aches, runny nose and fatigue, sometimes lasting weeks.
“Day eight I think of super cold. Losing track of time. Grim as hell,” CNN producer Luke McGee wrote on Twitter.
Benjamin Butterworth from The i newspapersaid, “Every bit of my body aches. Feel like I’ve run a marathon just from being awake. Seems ‘the worst cold ever’ might have got me.”
While the symptoms overlap with Covid-19, “super cold” sufferers report testing negative for the virus.
Nearly 68 per cent of people in the UK are fully vaccinated, and the country has started offering booster shots ahead of winter.
According to the UK’s ZOE Covid Symptom Study, there has been increasing crossover in symptoms between Covid-19 and the cold.
At the beginning of the pandemic, the main distinguishing Covid-19 symptoms were thought to be fever, cough and loss of smell.
Millions of reports to the ZOE Covid Study app have since identified more than 20 symptoms of Covid-19, including headache, runny nose, sneezing and sore throat.