Amid peaking COVID-19 cases in India and the threat posed by the outbreak on the vulnerable population, the country has added two new symptoms in the list of the symptoms to detect the exposure and infection of the pandemic. 

The major announcement from the Union Health Ministry has come at a crucial time when the country is aiming to flatten the curve of COVID-19 cases and the update has alarmed the government to pace up the efforts towards having early detection of cases and carriers to avoid the rampant spread and prevent the vulnerable people who are at high risk. 

According to the reports, the Center has added loss of smell (Anosmia) and loss of taste (ageusia) in the list of COVID-19 symptoms. The Union Ministry has released new symptoms in the document titled "Clinical Management Protocol: COVID-19". The newly inducted symptoms are among the list of eleven symptoms ascertained by the health ministry.

Loss of smell (anosmia) or loss of taste (ageusia) added to the list of #COVID19 symptoms by the Health Ministry. pic.twitter.com/PM6ZkEkHK4

— ANI (@ANI) June 13, 2020

The other nine symptoms are fever, fatigue, cough, sore throat, diarrhea, shortness of breath, myalgia, expectoration, and rhinorrhea. The sequel of the induction of new symptoms was most of the COVID-19 patients have complained about the loss of smell or loss of taste along with the respiratory symptoms. The ministry stated that geriatric people and people with low immunity may develop symptoms such as fatigue, diarrhea, loss of appetite, delirium, and reduced alertness and mobility.

According to the reports, these new symptoms were added as likely symptoms for COVID-19 and not the specific symptoms for the virus. There are possibilities that anyone who suffers from influenza and fever would apparently lose the smell and taste and these symptoms could be one of the early signs which would aid in detecting the cases at the early stages so that the symptomatic people would be taken for early treatment, in the absence of the vaccine.

The Union Health Ministry has released a revised treatment protocol for virus-hit patients for the use of health professionals as a reference. The ministry iterated that the country has no grounds of community transmission and asserted that the recovery rate of the country is improving and currently stands at 49.95%. As of Saturday morning, India has reported 3,08,993 cases of which 1,45,779 are active, 1,54,330 have recovered, and 8884 had succumbed to the infection.