33 New COVID-19 Cases, First Case of BF.7 Strain Detected

By Lars James Hamer, October 11, 2022

Shenzhen recorded 33 new cases of COVID-19 yesterday, 27 of which were from imported from outside of the city. There were 14 confirmed symptomatic patients and 19 asymptomatic ones.

Among them, 21 were already in quarantine and one was found while undergoing at-home monitoring. Two cases were found in screening carried out in high-risk areas, two more from screening key personnel in non-closed-loop management and seven cases in community screening.

Fourteen of said infections were in Bao’an district, nine in Futian district, six in Nanshan district, three in Longgang district and one in Longhua district.

On October 8, a total of 46 cases were reported in Shenzhen, of which 32 cases were imported from other cities and provinces outside of Guangdong.

The above-mentioned cases have been transferred to the emergency hospital area of the Third People's Hospital of Beijing for isolation treatment.

The Shenzhen Center for Disease Control and Prevention conducted a sequence alignment analysis of the viral genome of all cases in the city since October 9.

The results showed that most of the infected strains were BF.7, BA.2.76 and BA.2.2 variants, among which BB.7 variants were detected for the first time in Shenzhen.

BF.7 is short for BA.5.2.1.7 and is a subline of the Omicron variant strain BA.5. Compared with BA.4 or BA.5, BF.7 has faster transmission rates and stronger infectivity.

In light of the detection of a new strain and due to the number of infections coming from people who have recently returned to Shenzhen, the city now requires anyone who returns to Shenzhen to carry out three COVID-19 tests over three days.

In other COVID-19 related news, People’s Daily said in an article published today (October 11) that ‘China Must Stick With Dynamic-Zero COVID’

China COVID hot spots...

Looking to get out of Shenzhen? We wouldn't blame you.

Below is a list of places that reported 10 or more COVID-19 cases yesterday – locally transmitted and asymptomatic combined – that you may wish to avoid: