Srinagar, Dec 26: Doctors Association Kashmir (DAK)
on Monday said BF.7 variant is unlikely to cause a new
wave of Covid-19 in our population.
“BF.7 is not a cause of concern for us and there is no
need to worry about it,” said DAK President and
Influenza expert Dr Nisar ul Hassan in a statement.
Dr Hassan said BF.7, the variant driving China's Covid
surge, is a sublineage of the BA.5 subvariant of omicron.
“First detected in February 2021, BF.7 has been in
circulation for the last 22 months across 91 countries
without much impact. The prevalence of the variant in
sequenced samples has remained below 0.5%
worldwide.”
“India detected its first case of BF.7 in July this year and
it has not contributed significantly to Covid cases
compared to other simultaneously circulating Omicron
sublineages,” he said.
The DAK President said with high vaccination rates and
natural immunity, the possibility of having a wave due to
this variant is less. “Most of us have gone through the
omicron wave this year in January. So we don't need to
worry about it. Essentially BF.7 is the same virus,” he
said.
“The fact that there has been no significant increase in
the incidence of the BF.7 variant since its detection 5
months ago shows that it is not something to be
bothered about,” he added.
Dr Nisar said the transmission rate and severity of a
variant are not uniform everywhere. It varies depending
on the susceptibility of the local population.
“China followed restrictive zero Covid policy, most
people there are not exposed to the variant and hence
have no immunity. Now with sudden reopening, the
country saw a massive surge in cases in the susceptible
population,” he said.
General Secretary DAK Dr Arshad Ali said we need to
realize that Covid-19 has entered into an endemic stage.
It has become yet another infection joining many other
diseases that we have learned to live.
“Cases will wax and wane. Outbreaks will pop up here
and there. Frequent changes in genome structure are
part of the natural life course of viruses and there is no
need to panic,” he said.
