For Coronavirus, the onset of symptoms is sudden.

Coronavirus Outbreak: As the novel Coronavirus widens its reach to many people, a sudden wave of fear has hit many minds! The reason behind this is that COVID-19 resembles the common cold as well as seasonal flu. The season is also changing in India and leading to many people witnessing running nose and sore throat. As these symptoms appear, relating it to Coronavirus is but natural. However, there is no need to panic. We have listed out the differences between the common cold, seasonal flu and Coronavirus.

For Coronavirus, the onset of symptoms is sudden. These symptoms are dry cough, fever, fatigue and muscle ache. Some people may also witness rare symptoms like diarrhoea, headaches and coughing up blood. For this virus, the incubation period is most like up to 14 days. However, it can even go up to 24 days. Time to recover from it is also six weeks in severe cases but can be two weeks if the impact is minor. As there is no anti-viral medicine, only symptoms can be taken care of and treated.

Season flu, on the other hand, starts abruptly with similar symptoms that Coronavirus has. These are again dry cough, fever, fatigue and muscle ache. It has other symptoms as well which are running or stuffy nose and sore throat. Vomiting and diarrhoea are less common symptoms of seasonal flu. But unlike Coronavirus, the incubation period is quite less. It ranges between one and four days. The person can recover in one week. It is to note that there is a provision of an annual vaccine for this.

When it comes to the common cold, the process is slow and gradual. It mainly includes having a sore throat and running or stuffy nose. It may be accompanied by low fever and body ache. There is no specific treatment to cure a common cold. The cold can last up to a week in severe cases.