COVID Symptoms 2025: What to Watch For in London Now

When we talk about COVID symptoms 2025, the physical and sensory signs linked to ongoing SARS-CoV-2 infections in the current year. Also known as post-pandemic viral responses, these symptoms no longer look like the early pandemic version—no more sudden loss of smell, no high fever rushing you to the ER. Instead, they’re quieter, weirder, and harder to pin down. The virus hasn’t disappeared. It’s just changed how it shows up.

Now, the main player in London is the XEC virus, a newly dominant Omicron subvariant spreading through the city with low severity but high transmissibility. Also known as XEC variant, it’s not causing mass hospitalizations—but it’s leaving people tired, foggy, and off-balance for weeks. You won’t see it on the news. You’ll feel it on the Tube, in offices, and in the quiet sighs of people who just can’t shake this low-grade exhaustion. And it’s not alone. The long COVID, a cluster of lingering health issues that persist for months after initial infection. Also known as post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 infection, it’s still affecting tens of thousands across Greater London, especially in older adults and those with prior health conditions. This isn’t just fatigue. It’s brain fog so thick you forget your own phone number. It’s muscle jerks when you’re sitting still. It’s a sudden loss of sweet taste—yes, that’s real—and glowing skin patches that doctors still can’t explain.

Forget the old checklist. You won’t find a runny nose or sore throat as the main sign anymore. The real red flags now? Unexplained exhaustion that doesn’t improve with sleep, sudden confusion or memory slips, chest tightness without asthma, and strange sensory changes—like tasting metal or feeling heat where there’s none. These aren’t anxiety. They’re biological. And they’re showing up in people who never got sick in 2020 or 2021.

London’s health system doesn’t treat these symptoms like emergencies anymore. There are no tests to confirm them. No official protocols. You’re on your own to track them, rest, and push through. But you’re not alone. Thousands are. And the data from NHS records shows a steady, quiet rise in these cases every month since early 2024. The pandemic is over. But the virus? It’s still writing its next chapter—in your body, in your neighborhood, in your daily life.

Below, you’ll find real stories, updated symptom guides, and the latest on what’s circulating in London right now. No hype. No fear. Just what’s actually happening—and what you need to do about it.