The coronavirus has now successfully managed to shut the world down for more than 18 months. It has all the government agencies and health authorities wrapped around its fingers. 

In the initial months of this new COVID world, authorities scrambled to spread the information about the virus and its symptoms. 

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Now that the virus has evolved, its symptoms have changed as well. 

But before we conclude the symptoms it is important to take everything with a pinch of salt. 

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We as humans are all different and dynamic. As we cross our geographical lines we also come across different immune systems. 

In other words, the same virus can produce different signs and symptoms in different ways. 

The way a virus causes illness or symptoms depends on the viral factors such as speed of replication, modes of transmission. these viral factors are also subject to change as the virus is evolving. 

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The host also plays a major role in this. The specifics of the individual i.e. age, gender, medication, diet, health, stress, exercise and so on. 

This article cannot ascertain what your individual symptoms might be but what is the most common. This can only be done by collecting information from individual cases. 

So what are the common signs and symptoms of the Delta variant? 

While fever and cough have always been common COVID symptoms, and headache and sore throat have traditionally presented for some people, a runny nose was rarely reported in earlier data. Meanwhile, loss of smell, which was originally quite common, now ranks ninth.

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Does vaccination affect the symptoms?

Although the new variant can compromise the effectiveness of the vaccine it still appears to offer good protection against symptomatic COVID-19 after two doses. 

In some cases, the infection may still possible after vaccination, but it’s highly likely the viral load will be lower and symptoms much milder than they would without vaccination.

It’s important to understand the environment is also changing. People have become more complacent with social distancing, seasons change, vaccination rates vary — all these factors affect the data.

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But scientists are becoming more confident the Delta variant represents a more transmissible SARS-CoV-2 strain.