According to Itai Gai, symptoms usually begin to appear 2-5 days after infection with a coronavirus infection.
Usually, patients begin to have a fever, but the temperature remains at the level of 37.8-38.5 ° C, some lose their sense of tastes and smells, there may be other symptoms.
For some people, COVID-19 is asymptomatic or has only mild symptoms. On 3-7 days after infection, pneumonia begins to develop, since the virus primarily affects the lungs, shortness of breath and coughing increase, sometimes against the background of an increase in temperature.
However, children at all stages of the disease may have no symptoms at all.
The critical days are the fifth and sixth. Pneumonia is already pronounced. People suffer from severe shortness of breath and coughing.
At the same time, patients feel pronounced weakness and find it difficult to complete phrases.
A week after infection, most patients in serious and moderate condition are admitted to the hospital. The shortness of breath gets worse and they start to need oxygen.
In the second week, patients begin to experience severe pulmonary insufficiency, in some cases, a connection to a ventilator is required.
The condition of asymptomatic patients does not change, the mildly sick feel relief, up to the disappearance of symptoms.
Some seriously ill patients develop sepsis at this stage. It is a dangerous condition with an aggressive immune system response. Such patients are hospitalized in intensive care units and sometimes even have to be connected to ECMO devices, which replace the work of the heart and lungs.
Some patients in mild and moderate condition develop abdominal pain and diarrhea.
On the tenth day, almost all symptoms disappear from anyone who suffers a mild illness. If this condition is observed for at least three days, the patient may be discharged from the hospital.
In the third week, patients who have suffered from cough, there is a serious relief, the frequency of cough decreases until it disappears.
Severely ill patients are divided into 2 main groups: recovered and discharged, with the appointment of observation and rehabilitation on an outpatient basis, and those whose condition worsens.
To speed up the recovery of the sense of smell, doctors recommend sniffing various substances, but there is no data on how effective these methods are.
You can drink over-the-counter syrups to help relieve coughs. At the same time, patients are advised, if possible, to remain mobile in quarantine.
Patients with COVID-19 often experience fatigue, weakness, headaches and muscle aches, similar to those of the flu. In this case, you need to take care of sufficient drinking and proper nutrition.
You can also take analgesics such as akamol (paracetamol) or nurofen (ibuprofen) and rest as needed.