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Britain's official Covid symptoms list should be boosted from four to seven to catch more cases of the virus, experts say.
Currently only people with a high temperature, a new continuous cough, a loss or change to their sense of smell or taste are advised to get a free NHS PCR test.
They are then told to self-isolate at home until they get their results back.
But a Department of Health-funded study by Imperial College London researchers argues the merits of expanding the list to include chills, a loss of appetite and muscle pains.
Adding the extra three symptoms would help spot up to three-quarters of all infected people, they claim.
The study claims that currently only 10 per cent of Covid patients qualify for a test under the current symptom criteria, which suggests a significant number are slipping through the cracks.
A team of experts want the official list of Covid symptoms expanded from four to seven, adding common signs of seasonal flu such as chills, loss of appetite and muscle pains. While doing means many will have to self-isolate unnecessarily the experts say the current list mean many Covid positive cases are slipping through the cracks and potentially spreading the virus (stock)
Expanding the symptoms list could also quadruple the number of people eligible for a free PCR test.
The researchers' work, published in PLOS Medicine, was based on data of 1.15million PCR test results obtained between June 2020 and January 2021.
Volunteers were all asked about the symptoms
