The state Health department has urged the people of Bengal not to panic after Omicron sub-variant BF.7 was detected in about 10 patients in the state.
Contact tracing of all infected patients has been done. All are stated to be stable. All hospitals have been asked to keep in place an adequate infrastructure to combat any possible surge. The protocol monitoring team held a meeting to combat the new strain. A senior health department official said there is nothing to worry about. Hospitals have also been asked to make adequate arrangements for oxygen.
Sources said four cases of BF.7 variant were found among the samples sent for genome sequencing last month. Three of them belong to the same family. The patients had returned from abroad. Three patients were reportedly residents of Nadia. The Health department has alerted the district officials.
Senior city pathologist Dr Gopeswar Mukherjee said symptoms of the new BF.7 sub-variant are similar to common flu and include cold, cough, fever, body pain.
Meanwhile, India recorded 175 new Covid infections in a day while the active caseload declined to 2,570, according to Union Health ministry data updated on Wednesday. The death toll reported is 5,30,707.
The daily positivity rate was recorded at 0.09 per cent while the weekly positivity was 0.12 per cent.
Active caseload declined by 12 in a day and now comprises 0.01 per cent of the total infections. The national Covid recovery rate has increased to 98.80 per cent, according to the Health ministry website.