UK health officials are investigating cases of the previously dismissed hybrid strain of Delta and Omicron variants, but said they are “not concerned”
Health authorities in the UK have officially begun monitoring the so-called ‘Deltacron’ variant of the Covid-19 coronavirus that is thought to be a hybrid of the Omicron and Delta strains. This is after the World Health Organization (and other experts) had rejected the variant last month.
The UK Health Security agency (UKHSA) included the mutant strain – which emerges when different variants merge inside a host – in its latest weekly surveillance report on “variants of public health interest”This week. The list also includes Deltacron “signals currently under monitoring and investigation,” which is a designation below ‘variant of concern’ and ‘variant under investigation’.
Although the agency didn’t give an exact count of Deltacron cases, unnamed UKHSA sources informed the Daily Mail that they had identified a number. “not concerned”By using the variant depending on how many infections you have “low.”In addition, the paper reported that Deltacron’s severity and infectiousness are still unknown by the agency. It is also unclear if it could affect vaccine effectiveness.
“We monitor everything as a matter of course, but we are not particularly anxious about this variant. It is on that list just because we are currently looking at it,”A UKHSA official spoke to the Daily Mail. An anonymous source said that the Daily Mail had been informed by a UKHSA official. “very safe bet”The strain is not a problem for the country.
It remains unclear whether the cases observed originated in the UK or arrived from overseas, but the UKHSA identified five ‘variants of concern’ in the country, including the Delta and Omicron strains. Scientists have observed at least three such hybrid variants – known as ‘recombinants’ – so far, but none caused major outbreaks, the Daily Mail reported.
Paul Hunter, an infectious-disease expert from the University of East Anglia says the variant is safe. “in theory shouldn’t pose too much of a threat”Since the UK “high levels of immunity”Against Omicron and Delta strains Hunter informed the Daily Mail however, that Omicron and Delta strains were not to be tolerated. “nobody can predict everything with certainty,”He said that the UKHSA Report was his favorite. “doesn’t fill me with dread.”
After a laboratory in Cyprus reported that they had found the recombinant, initial reports regarding Deltacron emerged last month. But scientists including WHO senior experts dismissed its results. rejectedAll claims regarding a “super variant”And saidIt was “likely contamination during sequencing.”
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