4 cases of ‘highly infectious’ Omicron BF.7, responsible for China's Covid surge, found in India

New Delhi, Sec 21: Four cases of highly infectious Omicron subvariant BF.7, apparently the strain driving China's current surge of Covid cases, have been detected in India so far, official sources said Wednesday. Going by the reports, a top official in the health ministry said that out of the four cases, one was detected in July, two were in September and the other one was recorded in November.

Three of those cases were reported in Gujarat, whereas, one was recorded in Odisha, they said. The two new cases of BF.7 have been detected in Gujarat's Vadodara and Ahmedabad.

However, according to Gujarat health department, two patients infected with BF.7 & BF 12 variants of Omicron were reported in July-October-November-2022. These patients were treated in home isolation & have fully recovered.

In the Covid review meeting chaired by Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya Wednesday, experts said although there is no overall increase in Covid caseload as of now, there is a need for continued surveillance to keep a track of existing and emerging variants.

According to official sources here, Chinese cities are currently hit by the highly transmissible Omicron strain, mostly BF.7 which is the main variant spreading in Beijing and is contributing to a wider surge of Covid infections in that country.

''The BF.7's high transmissibility in China might be attributed to a low level of immunity in the Chinese population from the previous infection and possibly vaccination too,'' an official source said.

How infectious is new Omicron BF.7 sub-variant and its symptoms

While this hasn't really created a big panic so far in India, the new Omicron variant is known to spread very fast.

BF.7 is a sub-lineage of the Omicron variant BA.5 and has the strongest infection ability since it is highly transmissible, has a shorter incubation period, and has a higher capacity to cause reinfection or infect even those vaccinated. A person infected with BF.7 variant can infect 10 to 18 people.

The BF.7 was first detected on October 4 in Yantai and Shaoguan city of China. BF.7 is an alias for B.1.1.529.5.2.1.7. It has already been detected in several other countries, including the US, the UK and European nations such as Belgium, Germany, France and Denmark.

Like other COVID-19 variants, BF.7 is likely to cause severe illness for those with weaker immune systems.

Listed below are 10 symptoms that are most common if infected with Covid19:

• Sore throat
• Headache
• Cough (no phlegm)
• Blocked nose
• Runny nose
• Sneezing
• Hoarse voice
• Muscle pains and aches
• Fatigue
• Gastrointestinal issues like vomiting and diarrhoea in some people

Earlier, the World Health Organization (WHO) had also warned against the highly infectious BF.7 COVID subvariant expecting it to become a new dominant variant.

Bottomline

AsNow that Christmas 2022 and New Year 2023 are knocking our doors, it is advisable to continue to wear masks and maintain social distancing, especially in public places and workplaces, for our own safety. While we need to learn to live with Covid scare around us, we also need to make sure that the precautions, our sole weapon against the virus, are in place at all times.