new coronavirus variant has been identified combining genes of both Delta and Omicron which may have been circulating across Europe from the beginning of 2022.
What is Deltacron?
Hybrid versions of the coronavirus that combine genes from the Delta and Omicron variants – dubbed “Deltacron” – have been identified in patients across Europe and the United States, researchers said last week.
It has been officially confirmed as a new variant. According to analysis of Deltacron’s genetic code, its “backbone” is derived from the Delta variant while its spike – the part of the virus that attaches itself to human cells – is from Omicron.
Is it more dangerous than Delta or Omicron?
Because there have been so few confirmed cases, it is too soon to know whether Deltacron infections will be very transmissible or cause severe disease, said Philippe Colson of IHU Mediterranee Infection.
His team described three patients in France infected with a version of SARS-CoV-2 that combines the spike protein from an Omicron variant with the “body” of a Delta variant.
There is not yet enough data to ascertain how well vaccines protect against it.
Are the symptoms different?
According to the NHS, the symptoms of Deltacron are the same as typical Covid symptoms we have seen so far in the pandemic, but researchers are closely monitoring it.
The NHS says the common Covid symptoms are:
- High temperature: This means you feel hot to touch on your chest or back (you do not need to measure your temperature).
- New, continuous cough: This is defined as coughing a lot for more than an hour, or three or more coughing episodes in 24 hours (if you usually have a cough, it may be worse than usual).
- Loss or change to your sense of smell or taste (anosmia): This means you have noticed you cannot smell or taste anything, or things smell or taste different to normal.
Where has it been found?
Gisaid, a global community of scientists that shares virus information, said the variant has been identified in several regions of France and appears to have been circulating since the start of the year. “Genomes with a similar profile have been also identified in Denmark and the Netherlands,” Gisaid says.
There have also been reports of Deltacron being detected in the US, and about 30 cases have been detected in the UK, according to the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA).
Are the UK Government concerned?
Asked if he had any concerns over the Deltacron variant, Health Secretary Sajid Javid said: “There are variants that we would obviously keep under review.
“The most recent one of concern has been Omicron but we have successfully navigated our way through that as a country thanks to the response of the British people.
“There are also so-called subvariants of Omicron and we’re not concerned about any of those at this important time.
“We keep it under review but we have no concerns at all.”
What do scientists make of Deltacron?
Experts have been quick to stress that recombinant variants are not uncommon, and that Deltacron is not the first and will not be the last to occur for Covid.
Soumya Swaminathan, the chief scientist at the World Health Organization, tweeted on Tuesday: “We have known that recombinant events can occur, in humans or animals, with multiple circulating variants of #SarsCoV2. Need to wait for experiments to determine the properties of this virus. Importance of sequencing, analytics and rapid data sharing as we deal with this pandemic.”
Speaking last week, Dr Catherine Smallwood, senior emergency officer at the WHO Regional Office for Europe, said: “(There have been) reports of a recombination between Delta and Omicron variants, and indeed we are in touch with Cyprus, who have been providing information about that.
“And it does at this stage look like it could be the result of laboratory contamination rather than a new variant or new recombination between two variants.”