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Skin rash should be considered fourth key symptom of Covid 19

A new pre-print study led by King’s College London has found that characteristic skin rashes and ‘COVID fingers and toes’ can occur in the absence of any other symptoms and therefore should be considered as key diagnostic signs of the virus.

Using data from the COVID Symptom Study app from around 336,000 regular UK users, researchers discovered that 8.8% of people reporting a positive coronavirus swab test had experienced a skin rash as part of their symptoms, compared with 5.4% of people with a negative test result. Similar results were seen in a further 8.2% of users with a rash who did not have a coronavirus test, but still reported classic COVID-19 symptoms, such as cough, fever or anosmia (loss of smell).

Dr Veronique Bataille, Consultant Dermatologist and lead author of the research, says we shouldn't be surprised. Learn more here.