Will Covid variant BF.7 spark 4th pandemic wave globally? Know symptoms, how it is different from Delta

A new Covid-19 outbreak in China and some other parts of the world has triggered fears of a fresh global wave of the pandemic. The variant said to be responsible for the spike in cases in China is Omicron sub-variant BF.7. This variant was detected in India for the first time in October.

The BF.7 sub-variant is also called Omicron Spawn. Compared to the deadly Delta variant which sparked the brutal second wave in India in 2021, the BF.7 sub-variant is highly transmissible. 

The Omicron sub-variant can easily bypass the immunity that a person has acquired, either through a natural infection caused by an earlier Covid variant or through vaccines. This ability to quickly bypass immunity has triggered concerns that it may result in a fourth pandemic wave. 

Omicron sub-variant BF.7: Symptoms, comparison with Delta

First detected in China, the first BF.7 sub-variant cases in India surfaced from Gujarat. An infection from this sub-variant can cause symptoms which are similar to common flu. These include medium to high fever, severe throat infection, cold, cough, body ache and runny nose, health experts have claimed regarding BF.7 symptoms which are in contrast to Delta.

High transmissibility noted in BF.7 means that the sub-variant can infect a large number of people in a short time. 

As per medical experts in China, the BF.7 sub-variant shows increased “immune escape capability” compared to earlier Omicron variants BA.1, BA.2 and BA.5. Compared to Delta which had a reproduction number (R0) of 5-6, the R) for BF.7 is 10. 

Medical experts in China had also said that the new sub-variant doesn’t just have a higher transmission rate but also a shorter period of incubation compared to earlier Omicron sub-variants. 

Experts in India believe that the reason behind the surge in China is the country’s ‘zero-COVID policy’ which has been in force since 2020. Due to a large number of people being shut away from the pandemic for so long, they have not been exposed to Alpha and Delta and are now catching the new Omicron sub-variant.

READ | DNA Special: As new Covid variant BF.7 is wreaking havoc in China, know how India plans to tackle it

(With inputs from agencies)