Scientists have warned that a new strain of Covid has been detected and is spreading around the world rapidly.
The variant BF. 7, also known as BA. 5.2.1.7, is reportedly making up a quarter of Belgium's Covid cases and 10% of cases in Denmark, France and Germany.
According to the World Health Organisation, "reduced virus surveillance" such as the lifting of restrictions and more social mixing means a "challenging" autumn and winter ahead of us.
Dr Stuart Ray, vice chair of medicine for data integrity and analytics at Johns Hopkins’ Department of Medicine, told Fortune : "The same growth advantage in multiple countries makes it reasonable to think that BF. 7 is gaining a foothold."
He added: "It’s been a while since we went from Alpha to Beta to Gamma to Delta, then to Omicron. We may be complacent. This may be feeding into the notion that this is behind us.”
Kevin Kavanagh, president and founder of the patient advocacy organization Health Watch USA told Fierce Health Care: "It is anyone’s guess if BF.7 rapid growth will continue."
Erin Prater, writing for Fortune, said: "Scientists are taking notice of BF.7 because it’s making headway in an increasingly crowded field of Omicron subvariants."
CovSpectrum says a few hundreds cases have been detected in the UK so far - mostly in England.
Official guidance from NHS Inform says that you should stay at home if you have any symptoms. These include:
- continuous cough
- high temperature, fever or chills
- loss of, or change in, your normal sense of taste or smell
- shortness of breath
- unexplained tiredness, lack of energy
Most people no longer need to test for Covid, but tests are still available for specific groups - including health and social care workers.
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