Bhubaneswar: With Odisha having reported the BF.7 variant of Omicron, believed to be driving the recent surge of cases in China, the state government will be holding a crucial meeting on COVID management at the Lok Seva Bhawan at 12.30 pm on Friday.
“Discussion will be held on necessary measures in view of the current situation. Officials of the health department, RMRC, ILS, and different medical colleges will be present,” health director Bijay Mohapatra informed on Thursday.
“People should wear mask, especially in crowded places, and get the booster dose of COVID vaccine. Surveillance, testing, tracking and treatment approach of the government will continue. Necessary guidelines will be issued as directed by the central government,” he added.
While the BF.7 variant was first identified in Gujarat as far back as July, Odisha had reported the strain in a single sample tested on September 30. However, it was not linked to increased severity or infectiousness in the two states.
Also Read: Omicron Subvariant BF.7, Driving China’s Covid Surge, Detected In Odisha
“The cases are rising in other countries, but the situation is not bad in our country. However, a surge in future can not be ruled out. We have to follow COVID-19 rules to avoid lockdown or shutdown,” said Public health director Niranjan Mishra.
He further said that herd immunity is strong in India. “Decisions regarding the New Year celebrations and Hockey World Cup along with the previously-implemented system for COVID norm violation will also be taken at tomorrow’s meeting,” he added.
On Wednesday, Health and Family Welfare Secretary Shalini Pandit wrote to medical colleges, chief district medical and public health officers of all 30 districts to increase surveillance and conduct whole genome sequencing (WGS) of positive case samples to track the variant through Indian SARS CoV-2 Genomics Consortium (INSACOG) network.
The Centre has already asked states to send samples of the positive cases for genome sequencing given the increasing number of COVID-19 cases being reported from China and other nations.
Notably, BF.7 is a sub-lineage of the Omicron variant BA.5 and has the strongest infection ability since it is highly transmissible, has a shorter incubation period, and has a higher capacity to cause reinfection or infect even those vaccinated. It has already been detected in several other countries, including the US, the UK and European nations such as Belgium, Germany, France and Denmark.
Experts opined that the situation in India is quite different and the country may be repeating the benefits of hybrid immunisation due to the successful vaccination drive and natural infections.
