I tested positive for Covid - what it's really like as XEC strain spreads

-Credit: (Image: Reach Publishing Services Limited)
-Credit: (Image: Reach Publishing Services Limited)


People who have tested positive for Covid have been sharing their experiences of the infection. Many have detailed the symptoms they experienced and how they went about getting a Covid test.

This comes as the new XEC variant continues to spread globally, now detected in 27 countries across Europe, Asia and North America.

Despite only being discovered three weeks ago, the XEC variant now accounts for 13% of cases in Germany. Over 80 cases have been reported in the UK so far.

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Richard Orton, a Bioinformatics Research Associate at the University of Glasgow, spoke to The Conversation media outlet about the worrying trajectory of XEC: "XEC appears to have a growth advantage and is spreading faster than other circulating variants, suggesting it will become the dominant variant globally in the next few months."

He added: "This new variant will probably be similar to other Covid variants in terms of the disease caused, given its similar genetic information. So symptoms such as a high temperature, sore throat with a cough, headaches and body aches along with tiredness are to be expected."

The MEN has spoken to several people who have tested positive for Covid-19 recently. Hannah said: "I tested positive in July, I think around the fourth or fifth time I've tested positive for Covid, I've had it a lot.

"I was surprised because I last had it in mid-December and then tested positive again at the beginning of July. I didn't expect to get it again so soon.

"Now when you get a cold, you think 'is this Covid? 'But I think you could tell from the distinctive cough and feeling in your chest. I just knew it was Covid and put off testing for a few days, but then I did and it was positive, and I wasn't entirely surprised."

Hannah spoke of her initial symptoms, saying: "I started feeling quite tired and like I was getting ill, but I couldn't tell if it was just the result of a few late nights. I just felt really, really tired and didn't have an appetite. Two days later I started with a cough."

"This time, I found the symptoms were most mild," she said. "When I had Covid in December I was in bed for a couple of days. This time, I was up and about. I felt a bit rough but it didn't completely knock me out like it has in the past.

"I didn't test every day because you have to pay for the tests and I didn't have that many. It didn't last as long and it wasn't as severe, but you could definitely tell it was Covid not just a cold. When I had it in December though, it took 10 or 11 days to test negative. Whereas this was maybe around five or six.

"It was the mildest strain that I've had, I still felt quite rough but when I had it the last time I had to take a couple of days off work because I felt I couldn't concentrate, I felt awful, it hurt to look at a screen. This time, I didn't take any time off."

A 28 year old woman recounted her suspicions of catching Covid-19 following a music festival in London towards August's end. She experienced intense cold-like symptoms for roughly three days.

"A few days in, a wave of tiredness took over for around a day, and all I could do was nap on my sofa. That felt very similar to when I'd been ill during the Omicron wave in summer of 2022," she recalled.

"I didn't have any Covid tests in the house and felt too ill to go outside. I knew that I wanted to stay at home and not pass whatever illness I had to anyone else, so thought it didn't make much difference if I confirmed whether it was Covid or not, seeing as I'd be isolating anyway.

"And I'd have to go to a busy shop, which would only put those people inside at risk. But it took around another few days for the symptoms, particularly the exhaustion, to ebb away."

Ste opted to take a Covid test after discovering a friend he had recently been in contact with tested positive. He shared, "This was the third occasion that I've had Covid - as far as I know at least," He added: "I probably wouldn't have realised I had it this time if it wasn't for a friend who had tested positive, because they still need to test for their job."

He noticed minor symptoms, saying, "I had noticed a bit of a sore throat which didn't last long, but the main issue was a runny nose and frequently sneezing. It felt very similar to hay-fever."

Reflecting on the severity, Ste remarked: "The symptoms were the least severe of any time I had Covid. I thought I may have caught a bit of a chill after a boozy and unseasonably cool August bank holiday at Manchester Pride, and hadn't thought much else of it. It was nothing at all like the first time I had it in November 2020, before the jab, when I lost my sense of taste and felt shattered for a time even after I'd shifted the virus."

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