A new coronavirus symptom has been discovered by scientists researching the new disease.
Typically patients experience the same three ailments when they contract Covid-19 – a dry cough, a fever and a change or loss in taste or smell.
The condition usually develops over time, unlike a traditional flu which takes hold quite quickly.
But as we learn more about Covid it has become clear that the condition can develop into ‘Long Covid’ with lasting effects.
As with all new infections there is a lot to learn and the data around Long Covid is constantly being analysed.
Some believe that Long Covid may not be a single condition but a mixture of different things.
Researchers have studied the signs and symptoms of the new bug in a bid to learn as much about it as possible.
And now a new symptom appears to have been confirmed by experts at the International League of Dermatological Societies and the American Academy of Dermatology.
Patients could suffer from Covid toes – a rash on their feet which can reportedly last for months.
The inflammation typically develops within four weeks of contracting the bug and can result in swollen toes or turning purple.
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It is reportedly a mild symptom and feet do return to normal within a few weeks.
Esther Freeman, principal investigator of the International Covid-19 Dermatology Registry, the collaboration between the two research bodies, told the PA news agency: "It seems there is a certain sub-group of patients that, when they get Covid, they develop inflammation in their toes, which turns them red and swollen, and then they eventually turn purple.
“In most cases, it is self-resolved and it goes away. It is relatively mild.
"It lasts on average about 15 days. But we have seen patients lasting a month or two months."
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She added: "What is very surprising is when you get beyond that 60-day mark – because it's not like patients are resolving at day 70.
"It's the fact that some of our patients are at over 150 days now – these are patients with red or purple or swollen toes for many months."
She said: "We are starting to see Long Covid in other organ systems, this is the first time we are recognising this can happen in the skin as well.
"I think it raises a lot of questions about what sort of inflammation is going on – is there inflammation elsewhere in the body?
"We don't really know the answer yet.
"The skin can be viewed as a window into the rest of the body because it is inflammation which you can see – and can be indicative of inflammation elsewhere."
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