But those who have had hay fever for years or even decades say those symptoms are exactly the same.

Are the rulers rebranding hay fever as the "delta variant?" Or is this just a coincidence? There sure seem to be a lot of coincidences lately, but you decide for yourself.

Instead of the usual high temperature, hacking cough, and loss of taste and smell we've become familiar with, a new set of symptoms are thought to be associated with the Delta variant. –TYLA

It certainly looks like they are taking every single cold or fly or ailment that they can and turning it into something big and scary to panic the public.

"Since the start of May, we have been looking at the top symptoms in the app users – and they are not the same as they were," Spector explained. "This variant seems to be working slightly differently. People might think they've just got some sort of seasonal cold and they still go out to parties and they might spread around to six other people. We think this is fuelling a lot of the problem."

Unsurprisingly, hayfever sufferers have reacted in confusion and, in some cases, panic that their symptoms might be something more than a mild allergic reaction.

On reading about the new symptoms, one person tweeted: "That's also basically me in hot weather and with hayfever. Guess I need to get myself a few thousand test kits."

Another joked: "Are they sure the Delta variant ain't just hayfever season?"

One tweeted: "Cool, that's just what we needed to hear in HAYFEVER SEASON."

While one wrote: "Oh good. An added level of stress and jeopardy to this year's hayfever season." –TYLA