NICOSIA – Amid the disastrous spread of the Omicron variant which putintense pressure on global health care, a new variant of the novel disease,that is a combination of the delta and omicron variants, has beendiscovered in the Middle Eastern Island country.
A senior virologist at the University of Cyprus shared the new findings ofthe strain that is a combination of omicron and delta co-infections.
The new variant was dubbed as ‘deltacron’ after omicron-like geneticsignatures were found in the delta genomes. At least 25 cases of the newstrain have been detected, while officials said it is too early to say howdamaging the new strain might be.
Earlier, scientists believed that recent findings of new variants are aresult of laboratory contamination however the virologist told a USpublication that these mutations are not the result of a singlerecombination event.
It was revealed that the new variant is found among patients hospitalizeddue to infection than among non-hospitalized patients.
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Omicron and delta variants have mutations in the spike protein that affecttheir ability to enter human cells, with omicron becoming more infectiousas a result.
The unseen variant of novel disease arises when there are multiple variantsof a pathogen circulating. Researchers earlier claimed that they foundanother variant named IHU in France however, World Health Organization saidthe IHU variant had not become much of a threat.
Meanwhile, Flurona cases have also been reported in parts of the world inwhich the person contracted COVID-19 and the influenza virus at the sametime.
