New Delhi: Four cases of BF.7 sub-variant of Omicron, which is driving the huge Covid surge in China, has been detected in India. The cases had surfaced in Gujarat and Odisha. There is no mandatory Covid protocol in the country as of now.
So far, two cases have been reported from Gujarat, two from Odisha, in which the BF.7 variant has been detected. It has already been detected in several other countries, including the US and UK and European nations such as Belgium, Germany, France and Denmark.
The government, though advising people to wear masks in crowded places, has said that there is no need to panic — a suggestion repeated by Adar Poonawalla of vaccine maker Serum Institute of India (SII).
“ln view of the sudden spurt of cases being witnessed in Japan, United States of America, Republic of Korea, Brazil and China, it is essential to gear up the whole genome sequencing of positive case samples to track the variants,” read a letter from Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan to all states.
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.
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