In Cyprus, health authorities say that the Delta and Omicron COVID-19 variants have combined, resulting in a new variant dubbed “Deltacron.”
According to Leondios Kostrikis, a professor of biology in the country, more than 20 cases of co-infections of the Delta and Omicron variants have been identified.
In Cyprus, a country with the highest incidence rate in Europe, cases of combinations between Delta and Omicron have been detected by scientists, as reported by the country’s media on Saturday, January 8.
The professor says that “today, there are co-infections of Delta and Omicron, leading to local health authorities discovering the variant, which is a combination of both.”
Interviewed by a Cypriot media, the scientist said he identified this new mutation of the virus by analyzing samples taken both in the general population and in hospitalized patients.
As of today, 25 cases of Deltacron have been discovered. Most of them are in patients already hospitalized for severe forms of COVID-19.
Bloomberg reports that researchers have sent these findings to Gisaid, the international virus database.
For now, the new strain does not appear to be more dangerous. The biologist said “we will see in the future if it is more pathological or more contagious,” but the existence of this new variant could be quickly replaced by that of the Omicron variant, whose contagiousness is causing a record number of contaminations.
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