Throughout all the waves of Covid, a sore throat has been an early symptom of the virus, usually appearing in the first week of illness and getting better fairly quickly.
It feels worse on the first day of the infection, but gets better each day.
“On average, a sore throat could last five days. If your sore throat persists beyond that, it’s unlikely to be COVID-19,” the ZOE team said.
They found that during earlier waves, sore throats were more likely to occur along with many other symptoms of COVID-19. People reported sore throats with different combinations of symptoms.