It has been reported in 23 countries, including the UK<\/a>, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention<\/a>.<\/p>\n The new Covid-19<\/a> variant is believed to have undergone 75 mutations, making it a new threat to the immune system.<\/p>\n Kyle B. Enfield, an Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of Virginia, told The Conversation<\/a> that these mutations make it more difficult for our immune systems to detect<\/a>.<\/p>\n This can result in a spike of cases<\/a>, and as well as being contagious, people are experiencing the ‘worst’ symptoms<\/a> lasting for weeks at a time.<\/p>\n One Redditor who had it warned: “Guys really be careful. I had the worst fever for 2 days it was 104 fever I couldn\u2019t get out of bed. It is extremely contagious!”<\/p>\n A second added: “I\u2019m just now getting over it. Felt like I was dying for three weeks. It sucked.”<\/p>\n Another shared that they still suffered badly, but not as much as they might have because they had been vaccinated: “Got a vaccine a little over a month ago. Seemed to get this travelling cross country. About a week of symptoms give or take with the worst peaking day 3-4 and then slowly tapering off each passing day. Brain fog lingered the longest but slightly better by day 7-8. My doc said I was lucky I didn\u2019t have the flu.”<\/p>\n Professor Enfield stressed that ‘even though it’s spreading quickly, there’s no indication that it’s any more dangerous or that it causes more severe disease’ than other variants.<\/p>\n He echoed the vaccinations sentiment, adding: “However, especially given that current vaccines may not be as effective against it, protection remains important.”<\/p>\n One Redditor felt people have become lax around Covid-19 and the risks: “I am so tired of everyone pretending covid is no big deal anymore, and not mentioning long covid.”<\/p>\n ‘Cicada’ was first identified in South Africa on 22 November, 2024.<\/p>\n What are the symptoms of the \u2018Cicada\u2019 Covid variant? As for how to avoid it, Enfield advised: “If you feel unwell, stay home \u2013 not just to take care of yourself, but to prevent spreading disease.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A new ‘heavily-mutated’ variant of Covid is doing the rounds and people who’ve had it have warned others…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":559597,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[6883,97,1624,21953,965],"class_list":{"0":"post-559596","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health","8":"tag-coronavirus","9":"tag-health","10":"tag-nhs","11":"tag-uk-news","12":"tag-world-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/559596","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=559596"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/559596\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/559597"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=559596"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=559596"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=559596"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/aHR0cHM6Ly9ldS1pbWFnZXMuY29udGVudHN0YWNrLmNvbS92My9hc3NldHMvYmx0OGJiZjE2YzJkN2EyMDllNS9ibHRhNzgyNDE4.webp\"\/)
The new strain is causing brutal symptoms (Getty Stock Images)<\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/aHR0cHM6Ly9ldS1pbWFnZXMuY29udGVudHN0YWNrLmNvbS92My9hc3NldHMvYmx0OGJiZjE2YzJkN2EyMDllNS9ibHQ2MTc0Mzlk.webp\"\/)
The virus has mutated many times over (Getty Stock Images)<\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/aHR0cHM6Ly9ldS1pbWFnZXMuY29udGVudHN0YWNrLmNvbS92My9hc3NldHMvYmx0OGJiZjE2YzJkN2EyMDllNS9ibHQ2OGE1Mzk4.webp\"\/)
The symptoms are thought to be similar to previous Covid variants (Getty Stock Images)CoughFever or chillsSore throatCongestionShortness of breathLoss of smell or tasteFatigueHeadacheGastrointestinal symptoms<\/p>\n