As China is hit hard by a wave of contamination, a new subvariant of Omicron dubbed the BF7 has been identified as being the focus of broadcasts in Beijing.
It is the new sub-variant that worries the Chinese authorities. BF7, a subvariant of Omicron, is at the center of the Covid-19-related contaminations identified in Beijing, China. But is it more dangerous than the previous sub-variants? The Midi Expedition make the point.
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BF7 has a higher R0 (reproduction rate of a virus) than Omicron. In fact, “BF7 is thought to have an R0 of between 10 and 18.6. This means that one infected person will transmit the virus to an average of 10 to 18.6 other people. Research has shown that omicron has an average R0 of 5.08″, indicates the epidemiologist Antoine Flahault on Twitter.
9/1 – “Since Omicron emerged in late 2021, it has rapidly evolved into multiple subvariants. A subvariant, #BF7was recently identified as the main variant spreading in Beijing and contributing to a wider wave of #COVID-19 infections in China”.https://t.co/gYBgCqzGjC
—Antoine FLAHAULT (@FLAHAULT) December 16, 2022
This therefore promises to cause new complications in China, where contamination data is reaching an unprecedented level. For example, in the eastern city of Qingdao alone, a Communist Party-run news agency quoted the municipal health official on Friday as saying the port city had “between 490,000 and 530,000” new cases a day.
Risk of serious illness in frail people
Symptoms would be similar to infection with other Omicron subvariants. It would therefore be fever, cough, sore throat but also runny nose and tiredness. However, “BF7 could cause more serious disease in people with weaker immune systems,” says the professor.
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But could BF7 also spread massively internationally? The data at the moment is not alarming. “Despite its immune evasion characteristics and worrying signs of its growth in China, the variant appears to remain fairly stable elsewhere. % the previous week”, explains the specialist. However, its presence has been detected in India, which fears a spike in contamination.
On Chinese territory, while some media have spoken of drug shortages and hospitals under pressure, estimates of the real number of cases remain rare. The government of the eastern province of Jiangxi on Friday said in a social media post that 80% of its population – or about 36 million people – would be infected by March.
