As India gears up to fight a potential resurgence of the COVID virus in the country, the BF.7 Omicron sub-variant once again hogged the headlines as it is currently on the move in countries like China.

Also called the Omicron Spawn, the BF.7 sub-variant, first detected in India in October, is the newest form that has high transmissibility.

According to health experts, this is because the new variant quickly bypasses the immunity that a person has developed through a natural infection with an earlier variant or even if the complete course of the vaccines is taken. Due to this, there is an expectation that the world might see a fourth wave of the pandemic.

This new Omicron variant was first detected in China and India has seen its first case of this variant in Gujarat. Initially in the pandemic, the virus mutated several times and the WHO declared the Delta variant as the most severe one.

The symptoms of the new BF.7 sub-variant are similar to the common flu and include cold, cough, fever, body pain, etc. As it is highly transmittable, it spreads to a larger group of people within a short duration.

It is important to be careful in public places since we do see that people have become a little careless as many of the norms and the rules that are put forth during COVID-19 have been lifted, say, experts. So, it is now important that we at least follow the basic measures, they add.