People today with hay-fever should not confuse their reaction to pollen with the symptoms of coronavirus, GPs say.

Though a lot of indicators – this sort of as a runny nose – are distinctive, hay-fever can also prompt a cough that can alarm equally sufferers and these close to them.

That has prompted a lot of of those struggling with the allergy to contact family members medical professionals for assistance.

The Royal University of GPs claimed sufferers really should think about whether or not their indications are the same as in previous decades.

But it has also expressed problem that folks may depart the residence pondering they have just obtained the seasonal illness when they have essentially contracted the deadly virus.

The major coronavirus signs and symptoms are a fever or a new steady dry cough, which can in some cases direct to breathing difficulties at a later on phase of the sickness.

Dr Jonathan Leach, of the RCGP, mentioned: “For most men and women who have hay-fever it is the very same symptoms as they have each individual yr.

“What we are finding is that some sufferers are expressing ‘look this is a unique matter to what I had last 12 months, could this be coronavirus?’ and in that situation it could be.”

Much more than a quarter of the British inhabitants gets hay-fever each individual calendar year and the Met Place of work forecasted superior pollen counts throughout the week for most areas of the British isles.

Allergy British isles said it encouraged people suffering from hay-fever to handle it proactively to minimise indicators just before they come about – therefore reducing the urge to touch the encounter or sneeze, minimising spread of the virus.

GPs are advising sufferers who are not sure or who are acquiring trouble respiration that they should cell phone their medical professional or use the NHS 111 on line coronavirus company.