Coronavirus: Six types of COVID-19 identified by scientists in 'major' breakthrough for treatment
Symptoms not widely linked to the virus - like confusion and abdominal pain - are found to be hallmarks of its most severe forms.
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Symptoms not widely linked to the virus - like confusion and abdominal pain - are found to be hallmarks of its most severe forms.
news.sky.com/story/coronavi…
Although a continuous cough, fever and loss of smell are usually highlighted as the three key symptoms of the illness, data gathered from around 1,600 users of the COVID Symptom Study app in the UK and US shows that people can experience a wide range of different effects.
These can include headaches, muscle pains, fatigue, diarrhoea, confusion, loss of appetite, shortness of breath and more.
And researchers concluded that which of the six main cluster of symptoms each infected person suffered tended to indicate how quickly the disease would progress and how ill they were likely to get.
The team behind the study said that while some of the listed symptoms - such as confusion, abdominal pain and shortness of breath - had not been widely linked to COVID-19, they were hallmarks of its most severe forms.
They presented the six distinct clusters - or "types" of COVID-19 - as follows: 
It was discovered that only 1.5% of people with cluster 1, 4.4% of people with cluster 2 and 3.3% of people with cluster 3 required breathing support.
But these figures were 8.6%, 9.9% and 19.8% for clusters 4, 5 and 6 respectively.
But these figures were 8.6%, 9.9% and 19.8% for clusters 4, 5 and 6 respectively.
While nearly half of the patients in cluster 6 ended up in hospital, compared with just 16% of those in cluster 1.
This allowed them to devise a model which they say predicts more accurately - and, crucially, earlier - which cluster each patient falls into and how likely they are to require hospital treatment and breathing support.
