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In a meeting with Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya on Wednesday, experts said that the cases of covid have not increased in the country yet, but there is a need to increase vigilance. Also, new and existing variants will have to be monitored and tracked.
what is this new subvariant ?
Whenever a virus mutates, it starts a new category (lineage) or sub-category. BF.7 is nothing but the earlier version of BA.5.2.1.7. It is made by mutating (breaking) from the subvariant BA.5 of Omicron.
This month, in an article published in a scientific journal Cell Host and Microbe, it has been described as a virus with four times more immunity than its actual variant. Which means that infected or vaccinated humans in the lab have very little ability to destroy BF.7. It was said in the magazine that this capacity is less than the Wuhan virus.
It is believed that due to this subvariant, the crisis in China is deepening at this time. The ability of infection in this variant is said to be very strong.
According to some reports, this subvariant can infect already infected people or people who have taken the vaccine.
What is the preparation in India ?
Cases of this subvariant have been found in several countries, including the US, UK, Belgium, Germany, France, and Denmark. In October, BF.7 accounted for 5 percent of the total infections in the US, while the UK had 7.26 percent.
Scientists in western countries are closely monitoring this variant, but due to this, there has been no increase in cases of infection dramatically in these countries.
Omicron’s subvariants BA.1 and BA.2 were more in the cases of corona infection found in January 2022. After this subvariants like BA.4 and BA.5 also came but they did not dominate in India the way they did in European countries.
After increasing cases of corona virus infection in China, the central government in India has asked to take precautions.
VK Paul, head of the National Task Force on covid, has said that there is no need to panic and adequate tests are being done. He has advised people to wear masks in the crowd.
Union Minister Mansukh Mandaviya has held a meeting with senior officers and experts regarding the situation of Corona in the country.
After the meeting, the Health Minister has tweeted that ‘covid is not over yet’. I have asked everyone to be vigilant and keep vigil in a strong manner. We are ready to deal with any situation.
The central government has asked all states to send samples to labs for genome sequencing so that variants and subvariants can be detected.
LIVE: Media briefing on global health issues with @DrTedros https://t.co/njr6ZlUbxe
— World Health Organization (WHO) (@WHO) December 21, 2022
On the other hand, the World Health Organization has also expressed concern over the situation of Covid in China in its annual press conference today and said that the organization is very worried.
Tedros, director-general of the World Health Organization, said, “The World Health Organization is focusing on the vaccination of people who have reached the highest risk in China. But to assess the situation correctly, we need more information so that the condition of the hospitals can be estimated. Can go.”