Following a review meeting on Covid-19 amid the deteriorating condition in China Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday advised to use masks but did not make them compulsory. He also stressed upon genome sequencing and increased testing.
The government has expressed concern after four cases of the same sub-variant BF.7 and BF.12 responsible for the surge in China were detected in India. One of the four cases had surfaced back in July and others in September and November
However, the government has asked not to panic as the patients who had tested positive with the sub-variant have recovered with treatement at home.
Alongside, Prime Minister Modi suggested states to make sure they are ready with operational infrastructure of hospitals including PSA plants, oxygen cylinders, ventilators and human resources.
As far as this sub-variant of Omicron is concerned – the virus does not lead to severe illness but it spreads with faster pace that can infect a big number of people in a very short time. The recovery rates are also high, but the deaths can be more in numbers if the spread is even higher than the earlier spreads due to previous variants.
Doctors have also suggested people to get themselves tested immediately as it may help in restricting the spread. The main symptoms of the new BF.7 variant are fever, runny nose, cough, sore throat and congestion in upper chest and near the throat. Some may even have stomach related problems like diarrhoea and vomiting.
