Taipei, Dec. 29 (CNA) BF.7, the Omicron subvariant driving the current COVID-19 surge in China, is unlikely to cause a large-scale rise in cases in Taiwan, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said Thursday.
At a press conference, CECC official Lo Yi-chun (羅一鈞) pointed out that BF.7 -- short for BA.5.1.2.7 -- is a sub-lineage of the BA.5 variant, to which many Taiwanese already have some immunity.
In China, he said, the variant has been able to spread rapidly due to the low level of herd immunity, but will likely level off once people acquire more protection from vaccines or past infections.
Taiwan, in contrast, has already experienced three major waves of COVID-19 infections, the last one of which was driven by the BA.5 variant, according to Lo.
For that reason, he continued, if BF.7 does make its way into Taiwan, the chances of it causing a major outbreak are "relatively small."
Currently, Lo said, the CECC is more concerned about the BA.2.75 strain and new variants such as XBB and BQ.1, which are better able to evade immune defenses.
Lo encouraged people who are eligible to get the new Moderna bivalent COVID-19 vaccine, which he said offers strong protection against all BA.5 subvariants.
In response to China's COVID-19 surge, the CECC announced on Wednesday that it would begin requiring all travelers from that country to receive a saliva-based COVID-19 test on arrival from Jan. 1.
The policy will apply to returning Taiwanese and Chinese nationals traveling to Taiwan on business, for study or to visit their families, as Chinese tourists are still banned from entering Taiwan.
On Thursday, Taiwan reported nearly 28,000 new COVID-19 infections, representing a 40-percent increase over the same day a week earlier.
