‘Deltacron’ : No need to panic, need to observe and see how things progress
A new COVID-19 variant which is a combination of the previously identified Delta and Omicron versions, is spreading quickly in parts of Europe, the
World Health Organization (WHO) has warned.
This variant has been dubbed ‘Deltacron’ by some.
“Deltacron is a recombination of the SARS-CoV-2 virus variants Delta and Omicron,” said Prof. Neelika Malavige, Head of the Department of Immunology and Molecular Medicine, University of Sri Jayewardenepura, when asked by the Sunday Times.
She said that recombination of different viral variants in humans and animals is not uncommon and has happened previously with some other viruses. A recombined virus does not necessarily have the features of both Delta and Omicron. Sometimes these recombinations cause fitter viruses, sometimes weaker ones.
“As Deltacron is only recently detected in a few countries and only a very few cases have been reported, more experimental data are needed to find out whether it will cause more severe disease and evasion of vaccine immunity, in comparison to the existing variants,” said Prof. Malavige.
She states that it has been detected in France, some European countries including the United Kingdom (UK) and in the United States of America (USA). It is only a very few cases and based on the data coming from the UK, it does not seem to have a higher growth rate than the two versions of Omicron (BA.1 and BA.2).
“Therefore, there is no need to panic, just to observe and see how things progress,” she underscored, adding that so far, it has not been found in Sri Lanka. However, there is a possibility of new variants or new versions of Omicron evolving. As such, at this stage, one of the most important things is to carry out genomic sequencing systematically. It would be important to detect any new variant very soon.
“We don't want any nasty surprises. It’s good to know what is happening with the virus, so we have to keep a constant eye on what it’s doing, though right now we don’t need to worry,” she added.
The WHO, meanwhile, told a media briefing at its Headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland on Wednesday that the variant “has been found to be spreading in France, Holland and Denmark”, while reportedly two cases have been identified in USA. The WHO plans to publish a report on its findings shortly.
Meanwhile, virologists at L’Institut Pasteur in Paris, France, on Tuesday submitted a full genomic sequence on ‘Deltacron’ to the international COVID-19 database, GISAID, which means it has been officially confirmed as a variant.
Further, a recent study by the IHU Mediterranee Infection in Marseille, France, published on medRxiv on Tuesday and reported in the media, concluded that Deltacron has been identified in at least 17 patients in the USA and Europe. Further investigation to corroborate the findings is needed and the study has yet to be certified by peer review, it added.