Coronavirus has not gone yet. The report on the surge of fresh cases coming from China concerns a new sub-variant of the Omicron, BF.7. To go by Bloomberg, every day this version of the coronavirus is infecting about one million and causing death to some 5,000 people in China. The Indian government has also started taking measures to protect its population against any onslaught of the virus. The country's health minister has meanwhile asked the public to follow health safety protocols and get vaccinated. At the same time, arrangements will reportedly be there to randomly test two per cent of the international visitors for the virus at the country's airports. Meanwhile, the World Health Organisation (WHO) chief, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, has expressed concern over the reported sharp rise in the number of infections in China.
Reports have it that the streets of China's capital, Beijing, are empty and that most business centres are shut down. Unconfirmed reports further say that some 40 per cent of Beijing's 22 million people are now infected with the Omicron variant. Assumably, the pandemic is not concentrated just in that country's capital. Though reports are hard to come by, other cities and, especially, the rural areas of that country are perhaps going through similar ordeals.
But China is not far from Bangladesh. Are we fully aware if the strain of the Omicron under consideration has not already entered the country?
But how would the public know that they have been infected by BF.7? Does it have symptoms that are different from those of the older variants? In fact, BA.5.2.1.7, or in short, BF.7 is a sub-lineage of the Omicron variant. BF.7 is learnt to have the highest transmissibility so far. It can easily evade any immunity developed from previous infection or vaccination. It has the basic reproduction ratio or R0 between 10 and 18.6. That means, every person infected by BF.7 will transmit the virus to on average 10 to 18.6 people. Compare it with its parent Omicron variant (the fastest one before this sub-variant emerged) that has the basic reproduction number at 5.08.
The secret of this sub-variant of Omicron's being so infectious lies in its spike protein. In fact, BF.7 owes its characteristics to a specific mutation in the spike protein of the older SARS-CoV-2. This spike protein of the Omicron strain (BF.7) helps to attach itself to the cell of the victim it infects. Omicron, or BF.5 did also owe its high transmissibility, especially, its capacity to neutralise antibodies to such mutation. In this connection, a study carried out on health workers who got three jabs has shown that BA.7 can resist neutralization of their blood component, called sera, that is supposed to contain antibodies. The result was the same for patients who suffered from the BA.1 and BA.5 waves of the coronavirus.
The symptoms of the BF.7strain of the coronavirus are in many respects similar to the other sub-variants of Omicron. For example, it causes congestions in the upper part of the chest and throat. Patients may suffer from conditions including fever, cough, sore throat, runny nose and fatigue. They may also cause gastrointestinal disorders like vomiting and diarrhoea. Older people and others with compromised immune system are more at risk from this sub-variant of the virus. It is important that the patient get tested as soon as the symptoms begin to surface so that early decisions about isolating the patient or starting medication, or even about hospitalisation could be made.
The countries where the BF.7 has spread include the US, the UK, the European countries like France, Germany, Belgium and Denmark.
So far, the BF.7 has not demonstrated any tendency at escalation in the rate of infection in the US where it has remained steady. In the UK, on the other hand, its incidence has been fewer. However, earlier in October, the UK's Health Security Agency termed the BA.7 as one of the most concerning variants.
But the situation regarding the spread of BF.7 among the populace in the US and the UK contrasts sharply to that of China. The BF.7's higher reproduction number (R0) in China might be due to low level of immunity from earlier infections from other variants of the coronavirus. It may also be that the immunity from vaccination in China has not been strong enough. However, the recent surge of the pandemic as reported from China needs to be watched more closely. India has recently been reporting fewer than 200 infections from the virus a day.
So, there is little room for complacency in Bangladesh. Seeing that health safety protocols against the pandemic are being rarely observed at public places, let alone in the offices and other workplaces, the public appears to have forgotten about the pandemic. So, the government needs to launch a fresh awareness campaign against the pandemic in general. At the same time, it should install testing facilities for the new strain of the Omicron at different entry points of the country including the airports, sea and landports as well as at hospitals. Wearing facemask, maintaining social distancing and other basic health safety protocols should be made mandatory wherever people work and gather. And the vaccination drive against the pandemic should continue as before.
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