The Omicron subvariant BA.5 has become the latest coronavirus variant to cause a large number of infections around the world.
The World Health Organization's most recent report recorded it was behind 52 percent of cases sequenced in late June, up from 37 percent in one week. In the United States, it is estimated to be causing around 65 percent of infections.
As the virus mutates the symptoms of COVID-19 can change as well.
According to the director of the COVID-19 Response Team at the University of California, Irvine David Souleles, the most common symptoms of the BA.5 subvariant infections are coughs, congestion, fatigue and headaches, HuffPost reported.
Souleles told HuffPost it is important for people to remember these symptoms are not just from the BA.5 subvariant and it takes time to compile infection data since variants change so quickly.
"Loss of taste and smell was a very common symptom that was reported in earlier variants of COVID-19," Souleles said. "We're hearing that a lot less than we used to."
This likely has to do with how the virus has mutated, and how it interacts with the parts of our brain that govern taste and smell, he added.
Infectious diseases physician Dr Pritish Tosh said the current strain was "causing bad cold to flu-like illness".
He said the symptoms and the severity of them depended on a variety of factors including age, medical history and infection history.
Souleles argued COVID was much more than a cold regardless of the strain.
"If you talk to the average person who had COVID, many will tell you it's the sickest they've ever been without going to the hospital."
As more and more people get vaccinated and boosted, their T-cell immunity increases.
"T-cells keep people from getting super sick," Tosh told HuffPost.
Souleles agreed and said vaccines have been extremely effective protection against the virus.
"We know that the vaccines continue to provide pretty good protection from the more serious outcomes that would result in hospitalization or death," HuffPost reported him saying.
He also said it is important to carry on doing what we did for the earlier variants including getting vaccinated, boosted, wearing a mask and testing if you have symptoms.
"All of those things that have applied throughout the entire pandemic apply to BA.5 and all of the variants of omicron. We have the tools to control this, we know what to do," Souleles said.
