Thanks guys!
OOM, I thought about this too. Symptoms came very quickly, and soon after a couple of dinners with friends, so I also think it probably isn't COVID. I had an old COVID test kit at home, which had already expired (about 1 year past expiration). I did it nonetheless, and it came out negative.
Quite harsh indeed, high fever, shivers, cycling on/off between painkillers. Came in the most unfortunate of times...

Sounds like classic flu, yep. Shit can be tedious, but you can speed recovery up with NAC (2x500mg/d) and Ascorbic Acid (Vitamin C, works as NAC metabolism catalyzer).
I gave my last capsules of NAC to a friend of my father in law (60+ yo) after a two week flu episode, which had a holiday booked nine days later. He fully recovered before packing his suitcase. I only had NAC/AA once, after Covid (Omicron B1) and it helped much with shortbreathedness. Athletes are using it to increase O2 absorption of the lungs before training for events. One can take it for a month safely, but i never read of problems from those who took it longer.