Almost three years after the COVID-19 pandemic began, China is witnessing yet another surge in cases that has reportedly put people in hospitals and is causing deaths.
The BF.7 variant, a sub-lineage of the Omicron variant of COVID, is said to be the dominant variant in China that's driving the wave. And now what's seems to be causing panic in India are the alarmist headlines about "cases of this variant being detected in India now."
It's true that four cases of the variant were reported in India, but none of them are active now – with the first one being reported back in July.
Several news organisations ran stories and headlines about India reporting four cases of the variant. Some headlines implied that India had just reported four cases of BF.7 variant, while the others referred to it as the "China variant".
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(Source: Twitter/Screenshot)
So, is this a new in India?: The BF.7 variant was first detected in India in July of this year, a source in the Ministry of Health confirmed to The Quint.
Another case of the variant was reported in Odisha in September and according to the Information and Public Relations Department, the person got cured and left for the United States of America (USA).
It added that no other cases of the variant were reported in Odisha in the last three months.
Two more cases of the variant were then found in Gujarat and both of them recovered at home.
The variant has not caused an increased severity or infectiousness in the two states.
However, experts have warned that the current surge in some of the other countries could also be linked to the BF.7 variant.
What do we know about BF.7?: BF.7 is a sub-lineage of BA.5 Omicron variant and is not considered a separate variant. It will be treated as a variant of concern like all other Omicron subvariants.
The common symptoms continue to be those associated with the Omicron variant – mostly restricted to upper respiratory symptoms like sore throat, runny nose, and cough.
As per reports, BF.7 Omicron variant is quicker to transmit, has a short incubation period, and infects people easily, even those who have had COVID before.
Previous studies have found that the BA.5 Omicron subvariant is able to circumvent vaccine protection. This is true for BF.7 too.
But, the good news is that vaccines are still able to protect from severe illness and death.
What has the Ministry of Health said: The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) held a review meeting on 21 December and asked all concerned authorities to strengthen surveillance.
A day earlier, the Ministry asked states to step up genome sequencing.
Dr Vinod Kumar Paul, Member of Health at NITI Aayog appealed to the country’s citizens to wear a mask, and advised them to take the precautionary dose of the coronavirus vaccine.
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