Bengaluru: Following reports that Corona patients suffer loss of sense of taste and smell, BBMP Mayor has recommended a smell test, along with thermal screening for all those entering the malls in the city.
Bnegluru Mayor Goutham Kumar feels that smell test can be an effective way to detect a person who might be infected with the novel coronavirus and only if a person passes this test along with the temperature check, he/she should be allowed to enter the malls.
“Covid-19 patients suffer from loss of sense of taste and smell. I will write a letter to Karnataka CM and Health Minister. Smell tests should be made compulsory in malls. People who can’t smell should be tested immediately. Smell should also be a criterion,” the Bengaluru Mayor said.
Many Corona infected persons have said that along with symptoms like fever, sore throat etc, they also suffered anosmia (loss of smell) and ageusia (loss of taste). Even the advisory by the union health ministry lists anosmia as a symptom.
They are, however, Covid-19 patients who don’t lose sense of taste or smell. Last month, the government had said it was mulling to include sudden loss of taste and smell as a criteria for Covid-19 testing.
However, what is debatable is that loss of smell and taste can also be a symptom of common cold and influenza.
