BF.7 sub-variant, responsible for surge in China, to have little impact on India

  • India’s vaccination drive covered over 88% of its adult population as of November 2022
  • India has already reported 4 confirmed cases of the new BF.7 variant of Omicron
  • Indians have hybrid immunity due to the wide coverage of vaccination

Amid growing concern over the spurt in Covid infections in China, experts have suggested that Omicron sub-variant BF.7, which has wreaked havoc in the communist nation, will have little impact on in the country.  Indian scientists urged the Centre to bust the misleading information and communicate better about it. India has already reported 4 confirmed cases of the new BF.7 variant of Omicron. The BF.7 is an Omicron’s subvariant, which has been in transmission for almost a year and has hit many countries so far besides China.

Experts view

Experts say that the Omicron BF.7 sublineage is unlikely to impact India severely as it won’t be as “furious” here as it is in China and suggested the Centre should focus on dispelling myths about its lethality.

Dr. Samiran Panda, a former Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) scientist, said the government must work toward busting misleading information about the BF.7 subvariant besides focusing on other preparedness strategies. “There is panic among people with loads of videos and messages going around on social media platforms and ‘WhatsApp University’ about the BF.7 variant and symptoms caused by the same,” he reportedly told a television news channel. He added that the government must communicate that the new variant spreads fast but not lethal.

India is safe from another wave of the Covid pandemic because of the hybrid immunity of the population, former AIIMS director Dr Randeep Guleria said, according to Hindustan Times report. “A fresh outbreak of severe Covid cases and hospitalisation is unlikely as the Indian population already has hybrid immunity because of a very good vaccination coverage and natural infection,” Dr Guleria said. He also said that there is no need for any ban on international flights.

Experts are of the view that the surge in China is not due to the higher transmissibility of the BF.7 variant, but mostly because the Chinese didn’t develop any herd immunity. Dr Rommel Tickoo, Director, Internal Medicine in Delhi’s Max Super Speciality Hospital, Saket, said that after January wave, India did not witness any outbreak because of successful vaccination drive.  He said: “Indians have hybrid immunity due to the wide coverage of vaccination, and there is no reason to panic. Of course, precautions are needed. Masks should be on for all, and intense screening of tourists and foreign travellers and visitors should be done to avoid any emergency. Also, it is very important to track the genome sequencing to avoid a sudden outbreak.”

Dr. Rakesh Mishra, Director of the Tata Institute for Genetics and Society (TIGS) highlighted the three key factors which are in favrour of India. These are: high vaccination coverage, the country already witnessed Omicron outbreak and hybrid immunity in the population.

The variant

As per experts, BF.7 is the most infectious variant yet with a shorter incubation period. The January 2022 wave in India was due to the BA.1 and BA.2 sub-variants of Omicron. The sub-variants BA.4 and BA.5, which followed after that wave, never grew to an alarming number in India as compared to European countries. Following this, BF.7 too had little impact in India. Only four cases were reported, which were treated successfully.  Moreover, the reason for its rapid spread in China is not its neutralization resistance or higher transmissibility but the immunologically naive population, as per The Indian Express. The BF.7 variant of COVID-19, believed to be driving the recent surge of cases in China, was first identified in India as far back as July.

(With inputs from agencies)

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