ISLAMABAD: Denying the identification of Omicron sub-variant BF.7 in Pakistan, the National Command and Operations Center (NCOC) on Saturday said there was no threat of a new strain of COVID-19 and the situation was under control by the authorities. A close watch is being kept.
“There is an unconfirmed report circulating in the media about the threat of a new COVID-19 strain. The National Command and Operations Center has confirmed that there is currently no such threat. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) Islamabad said in a statement on micro-blogging website Twitter that the situation is being closely monitored.
After China, India identified several cases of BF.7, a sub-variant of the Omicron variant of Covid-19 that is driving the major surge of Covid in China. The BF.7 subtype has already been detected in several other countries, including Germany, Belgium, France, Denmark, the United States and the United Kingdom.
Believed to be highly transmissible with a short incubation period, the BF.7 Omicron variant is a subseries of BA, NIH experts said. It also has a high potential for reinfection and can infect vaccinated individuals, he said.
“According to the latest studies, the BF.7 variant has several times more neutralization resistance than the original Wuhan virus. This means that vaccination antibodies are not effective enough against the virus,” an NIH expert told The News. .