BF.7 is gaining momentum
"New Omicron variant BF.7 has swept to more provinces in China on Monday, less than a week after it was first identified in Northwest China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region," Global Times reported on Monday.
The BF.7 was detected on October 4 in Yantai and Shaoguan city.
BF.7 is an alias for B.1.1.529.5.2.1.7.
BF.7 is a subvariant of BA.5
The China media report said that being a subvariant of the dominant variant of COVID, Omicron, BF.7 has enhanced immunity evasion ability in comparison to its parental strain.
Omicron variant and its sub variants are infamous for their immunity escaping properties.
Not just China, the BF.7 subvariant is spreading fast in Belgium, Germany, France and Denmark and England as well.
How prevalent is BF.7?
Apart from these sub variants, BA.2.75 and BA.4 account for 1.8% and 0.8% of the total cases in the US.
This clearly indicates BF.7 is gaining its hold and might overtake the other two variants very soon.
On October 4, 2022, the World Health Organisation (WHO) had said that Omicron is currently the dominant variant circulating globally, accounting for more than 98% of viral sequences shared on GISAID after February 2022. This is for the first time since the pandemic happened a single variant with its sub variants has been circulating for almost one year.
Is this a new threat?
With the emergence and widespread infection of newer variants, new threats come before human beings. Threats of newer symptoms, health complications, medical care facility and after effect of the infection pose bigger risks for mankind everytime a mutated and stronger variant comes to fore.
On BF.7, experts have said that it is gaining hold and is likely to spread fast due to its high transmission rate.
In the US, the infection rate of BA.5 is seen to be decreasing and the rate of infection of BF.7 is seen increasing.
As on September 23, BF.7 accounted for 25% of the global share of COVID cases in Belgium. In the US it accounts for 4.6% of the total cases.
“Could lead to surge in infections this winter”
In view of the high transmission rate of the sub variant and the data of its infection, health experts have warned of a surge in infections during this winter.
"BA.5 continues to fade as BA.2.75x creeps up, BF.7 (BA.5.2.1.X) & BA.4.6 gain," Eric Topol tweeted on Friday, citing a US CDC report.
On Sunday, China reported more than 1,700 cases; the growth in COVID cases is due to the BF.7 sub variant. Beijing is currently preparing to host the Communist Party Congress.
Meanwhile, Dr Cyrus Shahpar, White House COVID-19 Data Director has assured everyone of a safe winter. "Slow growth in emerging sub variants (e.g. BA.2.75, BA.4.6, BF.7) and expect more in weeks ahead. Bottom line: These are all Omicron & we have a new bivalent dose that increases protection against all of them. Get one now to have a safer fall and winter!," he had tweeted.
Vaccinated people can get infected too
"As a subvariant of Omicron BA.5, BF.7 has enhanced immunity evasion compared with BA.5, which means that it's still possible that people could be infected with BF.7 even if they have been infected before or have taken COVID-19 vaccines," Global Times reported quoting experts.
Quoting an official from the local CDC it also wrote that, with its strong transmission and contagiousness, the new variant could easily result in wide-scale infection, complicating epidemic control and prevention.
What are the symptoms?
The symptoms associated with BF.7 subvariant are persistent cough, headache, chest pain, changes in sense of smell, hearing loss and shaking.
Most of the symptoms are similar to the infections caused by other sub variants of Omicron.
However, one should not ignore the other COVID symptoms like abdominal pain, diarrhea, runny nose, sore throat and fatigue.
Wearing a mask and keeping the hands sanitized should be encouraged and practiced.
Key points to note
With every new mutant of COVID we are being warned about high transmission rate. Seems, everytime this virus mutates it is getting stronger in terms of its transmission power.
In order to stop the virus from entering the body, now that we know that it has long term burden too in terms of long COVID, we need to keep practicing COVID safety protocols.
Wearing masks, sanitizing hands, staying from crowded places, and staying indoor during cough and cold are few basic rules which everyone should follow.
What is the COVID status in India?
India has been witnessing less than 2,000 COVID cases on an average. The number of active cases of COVID in the country stands at 27,374.
With 2,654 recoveries in the last 24 hours, the recovery rate stands at 98.75%.
In India, Omicron sub variant BA. 2.75 is believed to be dominant and widespread in circulation.
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