A brand new COVID variant is making headway in the U.S. and Europe

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Wed, 2022-09-21 09:15 — mike kraft

Just in time for fall, there's a brand new COVID variant making headway in the U.S. Scientists are taking notice of BF.7 because it’s making headway in an increasingly crowded field of Omicron subvariants. Fortune

A new COVID strain started to create waves among virus trackers this week, outpacing nearly all other variants of interest scientists are tracking in the U.S. this autumn.

The variant, which scientists have named BF.7—short for BA.5.2.1.7—comprised 1.7% of sequenced infections last week in the U.S., according to new data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Other variants jockeying for the top spot right now—held by BA.5, at 85%—include BA.4.6, which comprised 10.3% of infections, and BA.2.75, which comprised 1.3%.

BF.7 is only beginning to grow off in the U.S., but it’s already taken off in other countries.

So far Belgium has seen the lion’s share of BF.7 cases identified globally: 25%. Denmark, Germany, and France have each seen 10% of the world’s identified cases so far, according to cov-lineages.org, a COVID data repository updated daily by contributors from universities in England, Scotland, and Australia, among others.

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