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Some also suffer from breathing issues
As Omicron sweeps across offices, homes and other spaces there are some common experiences and symptoms to watch out for.
Infected people suffered from severe to milder symptoms, but they say it is completely different from the regular common flu.
Beema Thapa in Gomtu said she had a horrible and painful experience suffering from COVID-19. She was bedridden for three consecutive days after which she had diarrhea, headache, sore throat, body aches, fever and a loss of smell. She said her two children and her mother tested positive while her husband tested negative.
Beema strongly disagrees that the Omicron is similar to the common flu. Almost all her friends in Gomtu shared that they were also bedridden for at least three days, and after that, all of them experienced the COVID-19 symptoms. She said her mother also had the same symptoms and she has recovered now, but the sore throat irritation has not cleared as yet.
Fortunately, Beema’s three-year-old son and six-year-old daughter had only a mild fever and no other symptoms, unlike the adults.
A recovered individual who was infected with the Omicron said he and his three friends were in a self-containment mode in Trongsa. During the initial period, when they were tested, they all came out negative, likely to do with the incubation period. And after a week, they all started to get sick, it was not exactly a sore throat but somewhat of an irritation in the throat, and they slowly started having headache, back pain and fever.
He also said he lost his sense of smell and appetite. However, he said the symptoms were not severe, but in case if he didn’t have the COVID-19 vaccine then it would have been severe to bear.
“When I had a body aches, I took Paracetamol and Vitamin C, and it is important to eat food and drink as much hot water as you can,” he said.
He added that he and his friends are fully vaccinated, which helped bring down the severity of the Omicron infection.
He said, “People think that the Omicron is similar to the common flu, but it is not.” He said the symptoms of the common flu and the Omicron may be similar, but the pain factor is different when one is infected with the Omicron.
Although he is fully recovered now, however, he is skeptical about going back to his family since he has an unvaccinated toddler, and he does not want to take the chance of transmitting the infection to his family members because there is no guarantee that he is totally safe to mingle.
Another recovered COVID-19 individual, Pema, said she was infected while she was in the quarantine facility in Phuentsholing. She had sore throat, cough and joint pain, but the pain was bearable. She feels that the Omicron is a mild variant, especially since the symptoms she had were mild, and so far, she has had no side effects from the disease.
Similarly, a pregnant mother who was infected with the Omicron in the quarantine facility shared a similar experience.
There are reports of people also suffering from breathing difficulties.
The Ministry of Health said it has observed that many individuals who are suffering from shortness of breath along with other respiratory related symptoms seek delayed medical assistance resulting in severe complications.
It requested these individuals to seek medical assistance at the earliest to avoid any severe complications later.
A few of the recovered individuals said that they did not have any symptoms and were completely unaware that they had COVID-19. It was only after testing done for the safety of their family members that they found out about their positive result. Most of them isolated themselves at home for seven days.
According to the Ministry of Health (MoH), more than 40 percent of COVID-19 cases reported are asymptomatic. With almost 90 percent vaccine coverage in the country, it has provided an important protection against the severity of disease and deaths that can be caused by Omicron.
