BF.7 COVID variant won’t lead to severe disease: Experts

China is believed to be experiencing a covid surge due to Omicron sub-variant BF.7. Gujarat and Odisha have reported four cases of this variant.

Unlike China, the new substrain of virus has not affected India disastrously, even as the first case of this variant was detected months ago. However, the Centre has directed all states and Union Territories to remain cautious and ramp up the genome sequencing to track the variants.

The BF.7 is a sub-lineage of the Omicron variant BA.5, which Dr. Rajeev Jayadevan, Co-chairman of the National IMA Covid taskforce, calls ‘great-grandson of Omicron.’

As a result of high vaccination coverage and naturally acquired immunity among those who survived past Covid-19 infections, Dr. Jayadevan said most parts of India did not witness a proportionate rise in BA.5-linked cases when Western countries suffered from the subsequent BA.5 version of Omicron.

BF.7 or its ancestor BA.5 has not impacted India. The virus has also been reported in northern China. Due to the fast-changing nature of the virus, as well as the fact that some people with compromised immune systems may be able to harbour the virus for long periods of time, continuous genomic surveillance is necessary - all over the world.

“We have observed the increasing trends of joint pain, upper body pain, URI and vertigo,” he said, adding that as “no study till now has linked these symptoms with the new variant so we can’t say that these are the symptoms”.

The most common symptoms include sore throat, cough, congestion, fatigue and runny nose.