Covid-surge in China is making health authorities worldwide revise their prevention of pandemic strategy. After the union minister of health Mansukh Mandaviya on Wednesday asked people to be on alert, three cases of the Omicron subvariant BF.7 strain, the strain driving China’s recent Covid outbreak have been detected in India, official sources told PTI.
The first case of the BF.7 virus was detected in India in October. Out of the three cases now, two cases are reported from Gujarat, one is from Odisha.
During a review meeting on the Covid situation, experts noted that the number of cases in the country has not increased significantly. However, they said that the situation should be monitored to keep an eye on the emerging and existing variants.
Officials claim that the outbreak in China has been caused by a highly transmissible Omicron strain. The BF.7 variant is a sub-lineage of the Omicron strain. It has the strongest infection rate and is more likely to cause re-infection. It also has shorter incubation period.
Several European nations, including France, Germany, Denmark, Belgium, and the UK, have already reported cases of the BF.7 variant.