COVID-19 BF.7 variant updates: Expect close to 100 million cases, 1 million deaths in China, say Doctors

A 40-year-old man, who returned from China two days back, has tested positive for COVID-19 following which he has been isolated at his home, Chief Medical Officer Arun Srivastava said on Sunday. READ MORE

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath hands over cheques to the families of 53 journalists who died of COVID-19 in Lucknow.

A China returnee tested positive in Agra. The samples have been sent for genome sequencing.

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Sunday said that every day almost 45,000-50,000 COVID-19 tests are being conducted in the state.While talking to the media, Kumar said, "We are conducting COVID tests and administering vaccines. Every day almost 45,000-50,000 tests are being conducted. "Bihar is on alert, and patients are being provided treatment. The Centre is also careful. We have to be careful with those coming from outside," he added.Earlier on Saturday, the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) wrote to all the States and Union Territories of the country and directed them to ensure a functional and regular supply of medical oxygen for Covid-19 pandemic management.In its letter, the Ministry emphasised the importance of medical oxygen and vital resource in all clinical settings, particularly during the pandemic.

In view of a surge in COVID-19 cases in some countries, officials will physically visit all government hospitals in Delhi and ascertain their preparedness to deal with any eventuality, authorities said on Sunday. In pursuance of the central government's directions, a mock drill will be conducted across all city government hospitals on Tuesday. Delhi Health Secretary Amit Singla chaired a meeting with all district magistrates on Sunday morning and directed them to visit all hospitals and prepare an inventory of beds and equipment available there, a district official said. "From Monday onwards, we are going to physically assess the situation at the government hospitals with regard to the availability of beds, oxygen cylinders, ventilators etc. These details will be available on a Delhi government portal for public viewing from Tuesday," another official said.
The Delhi government's coronavirus dashboard was last updated on December 12.

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China's National Health Commission, which used to issue the country's COVID-19 case figures on a daily basis, starting Sunday stopped publishing the update, according to The Global Times."China's National Health Commission (NHC) will stop publishing daily COVID-19 case data from Sunday. Instead, the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention will release COVID-related info for study and reference," NHC said in a statement. On the website, the National Health Commission on Saturday gave the Covid case figures of Friday. China mainland reported 4,128 new cases of confirmed infections and no new death in the country.On December 23, 1,760 patients were released from the hospital after being cured and 28,865 people who had had close contact with infected patients were freed from medical observation. The number of serious cases increased by 99.

The move comes in the backdrop of a Radio Free Asia report that nearly 250 million people in China may have been affected by Covid-19 in just 20 days after the 'zero-covid policy' was diluted in the first week of the month.According to the leaked government documents that are circulating on social media, 248 million people were infected with Covid-19 from December 1 to 20, or 17.65 per cent of China's population.The data on covid cases released by government officials on December 20 is different from the reality as nearly 37 million were estimated, according to Radio Free AsiaA senior Chinese journalist told Radio Free Asia on Thursday that the document was genuine, and had been leaked by someone who attended the meeting who was acting deliberately and in the public interests.Meanwhile, British-based health data firm Airfinity, said that the infections in China are likely to be more than one million a day with deaths at more than 5,000 a day.

The recent 'Guidelines for International Arrivals', issued by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW), after Covid-19 resurfaced in some countries, to conduct random testing of two per cent international passengers (on the flight) at Airports, was followed accordingly and 110 international passengers were tested randomly on day 1 at the Delhi IGI, Genestrings Diagnostic Centre said on Sunday. The guidelines, issued by Health Ministry, provide the protocols to be compiled by International travellers as well as points of entry (airports, seaports and land borders) starting from December 24, 2022. A subsection (2 per cent of the total passengers on the flight) is undergoing random post-arrival testing at the IGI Airport Delhi. "On average, approximately 25,000 travellers arrive at the IGI, Delhi Airport, out of which 500 random passengers are being tested. By the end of Day one Genestrings had conducted approximately 110 tests," Dr Gauri Agarwal, Founder of Genestrings Diagnostic Center told ANI.Genestrings Diagnostic Centre's lab at the Delhi airport resumed testing which was otherwise stopped after restrictions were taken off at the Delhi international airport, for the inbound passengers.

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Global trends and the COVID situation in China would drive the equity markets this week, which may also see volatility amid the scheduled derivatives expiry on Thursday, said analysts. According to analysts, investor sentiment remained subdued last week amid surging COVID cases in China and a few other nations. Also, stronger US growth data has cemented expectations of the Federal Reserve continuing with its hawkish stance, which added to the muted trend. Last week, the Sensex tumbled 1,492.52 points or 2.43 per cent, while the Nifty tanked 462.20 points or 2.52 per cent. "The scheduled derivatives expiry of December month contracts would keep participants busy. Besides, the performance of global indices amid the rising fear of COVID cases will further add to volatility," said Ajit Mishra, VP - Technical Research, Religare Broking Ltd.

The severity of BF.7 variant of coronavirus in India may not be as serious as it is currently prevailing in China as Indian have already developed "herd immunity" a top official of CSIR- Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) here said. Vinay K Nandicoori, Director CCMB, stressing the need to follow Covid appropriate behaviour, said there is always a concern that all these variants have the ability to escape the immunity and can infect people who are vaccinated and even sometimes infected with the previous variants of Omicron. "The severity of the infection is not as much as they used to be with Delta. That's because of the fact that we do have herd immunity to an extent. Actually we have herd immunity because we are exposed to the other viruses," he told PTI. Media reports indicate that India reported four cases of BF.7 variant of coronavirus. "We (India) have seen the Delta wave which is a big one. Then we have got vaccination done. And then the Omicron wave came and we continued booster doses. We are different in many ways. What is happening in China may not happen in India because of that," he further said.

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China's National Health Commission, which used to issue the country's COVID-19 case figures on a daily basis, starting Sunday stopped publishing the update, according to The Global Times."China's National Health Commission (NHC) will stop publishing daily COVID-19 case data from Sunday. Instead, the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention will release COVID-related info for study and reference," NHC said in a statement. On the website, the National Health Commission on Saturday gave the Covid case figures of Friday. China mainland reported 4,128 new cases of confirmed infections and no new death in the country.On December 23, 1,760 patients were released from the hospital after being cured and 28,865 people who had had close contact with infected patients were freed from medical observation. The number of serious cases increased by 99.

The current Covid surge in many countries including China is believed to be driven by Omicron sub-variant BF.7. India has also so far reported four cases of this variant that includes two from Gujarat and two from Odisha. Unlike China, the new substrain of coronavirus has not affected India disastrously even as the first case of this variant was detected months ago. However, the Centre has directed all states and Union Territories to remain cautious and ramp up the genome sequencing to track the variants. The BF.7 is a sub-lineage of the Omicron variant BA.5, which, Dr Rajeev Jayadevan, Co-chairman, National IMA Covid taskforce, calls 'great-grandson of Omicron'. "BF.7 is a great-grandson of Omicron, which has a greater ability to infect previously infected or vaccinated people than the original Omicron. This property is called immune evasiveness. It essentially is the same virus as Omicron, but with additional mutations... There is no indication that it causes more severe disease," he said while talking to media.

Nepal's Ministry of Health and Population on Saturday cautioned the public about the emergence of a new COVID-19 variant BF.7 and advised people to mask up in public places.In a press statement, the Nepal Health Ministry said that the new variant of Covid-19 has not been confirmed in Nepal so far. However, due to its growing influence in neighbouring countries, there is a need to be alert in the Himalayan nation as well.

As COVID-19 cases continue to rise at a meteoric pace in China, crematoriums throughout the country are getting packed and people are forced to wait for hours to get their loved ones cremated, American broadcaster CNN reported. Social media posts have described the frustration faced by many people in trying to find a hearse and the difficulty of occupying a slot for cremation at a funeral home, the report added.

The new coronavirus variant spreading in China is a threat to Pakistan, the country's National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) said on Saturday, according to a report by Geo News.The same report said that "As per the NCOC, there is a risk that the new variant may enter Pakistan after China decided to lift the lockdown and travel restrictions." China has seen a rapid surge in the number of COVID cases after the Chinese government abruptly shifted its policies.According to NCOC officials, Pakistan is fully prepared to control the new variant.The country has in the past, dealt with COVID variants in a timely manner, they said."There is a low risk due to the inoculation of the COVID-19 vaccine. The vaccination of 90 per cent of the eligible population in Pakistan has been completed," the officials said as quoted by Geo News.

Taking note of the rising cases of COVID globally, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya on Friday said that the Centre and States need to work in "tandem" and in a "collaborative spirit" as was done during the previous surges.Mandaviya, while chairing a virtual meeting on Friday with the health ministers of the states, Principal Secretaries, Additional Chief Secretaries and Information Commissioners, said that the country needs to be on the alert and be fully prepared for COVID management.

Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya on Saturday announced that the RT-PCR test has been made mandatory for passengers coming from five countries including China."The RT-PCR test to be mandatory for international arrivals from China, Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong and Thailand. On arrival, if any passenger from these countries is found symptomatic or tests positive for Covid-19 infection, then he/she will be put under quarantine," Health Minister Mandaviya said. 

Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Saturday decided to hold mock drills at all health facilities across the country on December 27 in the wake of the COVID alarm due to a surge in infection in many countries.This is to ensure readiness in the availability of oxygen support, and ICU beds among other preparedness measures in case of a surge of COVID cases in India.

"Based on mathematical calculations, we expect close to 100 million COVID cases in China, five million admissions and one million deaths, which is a huge number," said Dr Neeraj Kumar Gupta, HOD of Pulmonary Medicine at Delhi's Safdarjung Hospital on Saturday. Gupta said that China is at the same stage where India was earlier but India is now well-experienced in fighting the virus.

"We faced the first wave, second wave of a much serious delta variant and the third wave of the Omicron variant which was not that serious but very infectious," Gupta said. He said that Chinese citizens have low immunity due to the country's strict lockdown strategies.