What are BA.5.2 and BF.7 Covid variants? How concern should we be?
SYDI ALIF04 Jan 2023 08:00am
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The finding was announced by both Malaysian Health Minister Dr Zaliha Mustafa and Health Director-General Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.
As of Dec 31, Dr Noor Hisham said there were 4,148 cases infected with BA.5.2 and three cases infected with BF.7.
He further revealed that the pair of variants which are believed to cause re-infection or have a higher infection rate due to the high number of cases in China, make up over 80 per cent of the infectious variants in China at this point.
Below are facts on the pair of variants better as a mean to prepare ourselves if there was a surge in cases.
BF.7 is the short of BA.5.2.1.7 - a sub-lineage of the Omicron variant BA.5 and was first detected around the globe in July 2022.
While rising cases in China have been linked to BF.7, countries on the western hemisphere namely India, Germany, France, Denmark and the US were not significantly affected by it.
In Malaysia, a website dedicated to helping scientists investigate and identify Covid-19 variants, covSpectrum.org, revealed that BF.7 had been detected in August and September 2022 in Selangor, Pahang and Melaka.
Its symptoms include similar ones to those of other variants such as runny nose, cough and diarrhoea.
The average R0 (basic reproduction rate) of other Omicron variants is around five whereas the sub-variant BF.7 goes beyond 10 which translates to highly transmission rate, according to reports from China.
As a precautionary step, experts have advised those who have not received their second booster to do now, especially those who fall within the high-risk group such as the elderly, those with comorbidities, and those who are immune-compromised since immunity wanes over time.
Definitely, use of face mask, practices of physical distance and good hygiene as well as regular test are of no-brainer to prevent both infection and transmission.
On the other hand, China's Centre for Disease Control (CCDC) Weekly recorded the first case of Omicron subvariant BA.5.2 in Yanqing District, Beijing on July 4 2022 involving a 49-year-old Chinese male who had arrived in Shanghai from North Carolina, US on June 15. He stayed in a hotel for the 14-day arrival quarantine and was discharged on June 30.
He later reached Beijing via domestic flight on July 1 and was transferred point-to-point from the airport to his residence community in Yanqing District. On July 3, his sample was collected through community mass screening and reported positive the next morning.
The case had received three doses of Moderna’s mRNA vaccines in the U.S. with the last shot on May 26. The index case caused an outbreak with a total of 16 cases located in five districts within seven days involving 12 males and four females; 12 received a booster shot and four were not vaccinated.
The respiratory samples from the 16 cases were sequenced by the Next Generating Sequencing (NGS). A total of 13 full genomes were obtained and all belonged to the same lineage BA.5.2, Variant of Concern (VOC)/Omicron.
Phylogenetic analysis indicated that the virus was similar to strains in North America, Europe, and Asia in mid-June 2022 which was different from local clusters in Beijing in the same period.
Galen Centre for Health and Social Policy chief executive officer, Azrul Mohd Khalib in response to the recent finding in Malaysia said that subvariants for Omicron namely BA.5, BA.2.75, BA.4.6, XBB and BA.2.3.20 have all been reported in Malaysia noting that XBB is particularly concerning as it has a high infectivity rate as well as immune escape.
There was in fact a surge of Covid-19 XBB cases in October 2022 which was announced by the health ministry at the time, according to him.
"Many of the same variants that are in China and other countries have already spread to Malaysia due to the reopening of borders, travellers going to and returning to this country, as well as specific variants which are more infectious than others. This is also why closing the borders against Chinese travellers specifically is pointless," Azrul opined.
Head of The Lung Centre at Pantai Hospital Kuala Lumpur Dr. Helmy Haja Mydin who also noted that both BA.5.2 and BF.7 variants had not just recently landed in Malaysia reprimanded,
"That’s not the message. The message is that the variants found in China are the same ones circulating in Malaysia."
He added: "SOPs should be reinforced including wearing masks in enclosed, poorly ventilated areas."
