BF.7 Variant: The outbreak of corona is increasing in many countries including China-Japan-America, out of which the condition of China is said to be very serious. It is believed that Omicron’s sub-variant BF.7 is responsible for the increasing infection of Kovid-19 in many countries including China. India has also registered four cases of this variant so far, of which two are from Gujarat and two from Odisha. The first case of this variant was detected in India months ago.
Even after months of getting this new variant of Omicron in India, like China, the new variant of Corona virus has not harmed India yet. Even today, very few cases of corona have been found in India. However, the central government has directed all states and union territories to be vigilant and speed up genome sequencing to track down the variant.
What is BF.7 Variant, how dangerous it is
Actually, BF.7 is a sub-variant of the group of Omicron variant BA.5, which Dr. Rajeev Jayadevan, co-chairman of the National IMA Covid Taskforce, calls the ‘great-grandson of Omicron’.
Talking to news agency IANS, he said, “BF.7 is a kind of ‘great-grandson’ of Omicron, which has a greater ability to infect people who are already infected or vaccinated than the original Omicron. This is called immune defense.” ..it is essentially the same virus as Omicron, but with additional mutations..there is no indication that it could cause more severe disease.”
Multiple variants of Omicron circulating in India
Dr. Jayadevan told IANS that Omicron has covered the world in just one and a half months after it was sighted in South Africa in November 2021. India first saw the BA.1 variant, followed by BA.2, which led to the third wave in January-February 2022. Since then, sons, daughters and grandchildren of BA.2 have been roaming India but haven’t made any big waves.
Attributing it to high vaccination and naturally strong immunity against COVID-19 infection, Dr. Jayadevan said that while Western countries suffered under Omicron’s later BA.5 variant, most parts of India have BA. Not much increase was seen in cases related to 5.
Cases had increased even a few months ago
He said, when BF.7 was first reported a few months ago, scientists were initially serious about it, as its cases were reported in many countries simultaneously. It was also found particularly in Belgium and Denmark, Germany and France and naturally there were initial concerns that it would outlive its siblings but it did not.
For example, in the US, BF.7 currently makes up only 3.9 percent of circulating variants. This is probably because it was later superseded by newer and more capable versions from Omicron such as the BQ.1, BQ.1.1 and XBB.
India need not worry much
Dr. Jayadevan advises on the recent growing Covid scare – there is currently no indication that BF.7 or its progenitor BA.5 has made any impact in India. It has also been reported in northern China that continuous genomic surveillance is needed. Firstly because of the rapidly changing nature of the virus all over the world and secondly because some people with weakened immune systems can harbor the virus for a long time.
corona virus constantly mutating
Public Health Expert and Director, Bone and Joint Institute, Fortis Escort Hospital Dr. Kaushal Kant Mishra said, COVID-19 is constantly mutating, the RNA strand of the virus replicates and will make mistakes resulting in mutations, which can lead to significant changes This helps the virus to adapt or survive better and increases the ability of the virus to spread rapidly.
Know what can be the symptoms of infection
He said that studies conducted around the world have shown that omicron Being a subvariant of, it is highly contagious and spreads faster than other variants. “We have seen an increasing trend of joint pain, upper body pain, URI and vertigo, so far none of the studies have linked these symptoms to the new variant, so we can’t say that these are symptoms,” he said. . However, the most common symptoms include congestion, sore throat, cough, fatigue and runny nose.
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