Coronavirus symptoms: 6 signs of 'Stealth Omicron' you can witness in your gut and why the variant may not even give a positive result

Omicron is the coronavirus variant that has dominated every corner of the world in just two months. Now its new sub-variant known Stealth Omicron has emerged, raising myriad questions related to the kind of symptoms it can lead to and the risk of complications involved with it. Generally, the Omicron variant leads to common-cold like symptoms that go away in a few days, but with Stealth Omicron, people have reported developing signs related to the gut.

A UK-based tabloid quoted a lead professor of the ZOE Covid Symptom Study, who suggested experiencing gut symptoms in case of Stealth Omicron - which it says might be because the virus affects the gut instead of the nose. So, most cases of Stealth Omicron lead to stomach issues, instead of respiratory issues. It leads to confusion and people do not go for COVID testing, putting others at risk. It may also happen that the patient may test false negative as there won't be any traces of Omicron in the nose or mouth.

Read more: From Delta to Omicron: Symptoms that were common with different variants

Not only in the cases of Stealth Omicron, but even in the case of other variants people experienced gut-related issues. The only difference is that with this new sub-variant, the issue is predominant. The six common gut-related symptoms include:

Nausea

Diarrhoea

Vomiting

Abdominal pain

Heartburn

Bloating

As per the researcher associated with the ZOE COVID-19 study, it is well proven by now that the virus enters the mouth or nose and starts multiplying in the respiratory system or the lungs. In some cases, it is transferred into the gut and may lead to the long COVID-19. The virus cannot be traced in the swab test, increasing the risk of complications.

Based on the findings, the World Health Organization (WHO) stated that Omicron mainly affects the upper respiratory tract (instead of lungs in the previous variants), so the symptoms of this variant of coronavirus are different from the previous ones. Being a subvariant of the Omicron virus, the same thing is witnessed with the Stealth Omicron. This also means that the variant will not lead to symptoms like loss of smell or taste and shortness of breath. Two early signs of Stealth Omicron variants are dizziness and fatigue. Apart from these tell-tale signs, other symptoms include:

Fever

Extreme fatigue

Coughing

Sore throat

Sore head

Muscular fatigue

Elevated heart rate

Read more: Coronavirus: With schools reopening, how to spot COVID signs in kids

Although BA.2 or Stealth Omicron is a variant of Omicron, its virological characteristics are different from the parent strain. As per researchers, the Stealth variant has about 20 mutations that differ from the original strain. This makes it challenging to determine how the virus will react and how it can affect people. The long term symptoms and effectiveness of the vaccine are something yet to be evaluated. For the time being, all we can do is get vaccinated and follow all the COVID norms like wearing a mask, maintaining hand hygiene and avoiding crowded places.