Covid 19 coronavirus: Young Kiwi woman only had one symptom

By RNZ

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A New Zealander who's tested positive for Covid-19 says her only symptom is a loss of taste and smell.

Nicole Fyfe, 24, was tested for coronavirus on Tuesday and notified on Wednesday night she had it.

She had a cold when she returned from Manchester on Saturday afternoon, but was showing no symptoms of coronavirus.

She was cleared at the airport to go home into self-isolation but she said what she had written off as jet-lag was actually the disease.

"I ended up going to bed quite early at about seven, and a couple hours later I woke up shaking and feeling sick," Fyfe told RNZ.

"I tried to call Healthline but was on hold for about an hour and a half and ended up falling asleep and not getting through."

The next day Fyfe noticed she didn't have any sense of smell or taste and thought it was "really strange" as she could still breathe completely fine through her nose.

She told RNZ that she was surprised to have contracted the disease as she didn't have any of the main symptoms.

• Covid19.govt.nz: The Government's official Covid-19 advisory website

"I had a couple coughs every couple of hours and I had been taking my temperature and it was completely fine. I had no shortness of breath".

Globally, loss of sense of smell and taste are not considered symptoms for Covid-19 and are not part of the recommended screening criteria to be tested. The World Health Organisation lists fever, tiredness and dry cough as the main symptoms of coronavirus.

They also suggest "other" symptoms as aches and pains, sore throat, and diarrhea, nausea and a runny nose.

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