United Kingdom: The United Kingdom Health Agency on Thursday detected Deltacron- a hybrid variant form of Delta and Omicron. However, it hasn’t created much panic yet as the cases are low, UKHSA officials said. The mutant variant is being monitored to figure out if it was imported or originated in Britain. Studies are on to rule out its potency and transmissibility of the super mutant BA.1 + B.1.617.2.
The Deltacron was first discovered in Cyprus at GISAID when 25 samples were sent for genome sequencing in January 2022. Since then, the Cyprus researcher faced a global pushback when leading publications cited the variant discovery as a ‘lab error’. In his report, Kostrikis maintained that the new strain is indeed a hybrid of the Delta and Omicron variants and spreads faster than both. According to him, the cases he has identified “indicate an evolutionary pressure to an ancestral strain to acquire these mutations and not a result of a single recombination event”.
The novel form of coronavirus that originated in 2019 in Wuhan, China has undergone several mutations. The Omicron variant, the presently dominant strain is proven to spread quick but less severe than the previous variant. According to WHO, the Omicron designated as B.1.1.529 has more than 30 mutations in its spike proteins, which spreads rapidly.