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A researcher in Cyprus has discovered a strain of the coronavirus that combines the delta and omicron variants.
Leondios Kostrikis, professor of biological sciences at the University of Cyprus, and head of the Laboratory of Biotechnology and Molecular Virology, called the strain “deltacron,” because of its omicron-like genetic signatures within the delta genomes.
“There are currently Omicron and Delta co-infections and we found this strain that is a combination of these two. The discovery was named Deltacron due to the identification of Omicron-like genetic signatures within the Delta genome,” Leondios Kostrikis, professor at the University of Cyprus and head of the Laboratory of Biotechnology and Molecular Virology, quoted as saying
Kostrikis and his team said they have found 25 cases of the virus, according to Bloomberg News. It’s still too early to tell whether there are more cases of the strain.
“We will see in the future if this strain is more pathological or more contagious or if it will prevail” against the two dominant strains, delta and omicron, Kostrikis said in an interview with Sigma TV Friday. He believes omicron will also overtake deltacron, he added.
The researchers sent their findings this week to GISAID, an international database that tracks viruses, according to Bloomberg.
The deltacron variant comes as omicron continues its rapid spread across the globe, causing a surge in Covid-19 cases.
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