Scientists Confirm Existence Of Deltacron Variant, First Reported In Europe And US

JAKARTA - Scientists have confirmed the existence of a new COVID-19 variant combining mutations from the Omicron and Delta variants for the first time, with cases reported in Europe and the US.

Live Science, citing a paper posted on medRxiv, reports that a new hybrid variant, unofficially dubbed "Deltacron", was confirmed by genome sequencing carried out by scientists at IHU Méditerranée Infection in Marseille, France, and has been detected in several regions of France.

Cases were also found in Denmark and the Netherlands, according to the international database GISAID. Separately, two cases have been identified in the US by California-based genetic research firm Helix, according to Reuters.

The Guardian also reports that around 30 cases have been identified in the UK.

Hybrid variants arise through a process called recombination--when two viral variants infect a patient simultaneously, exchanging genetic material to create a new variant.

Scientists say that the "backbone" of the Deltacron variant comes from the Delta variant, while the spike protein -- which allows the virus to enter host cells -- comes from Omicron, according to Live Science based on the medRxiv paper.

"We already know that recombinant events can occur, in humans or animals, with different variants of #SARSCoV2 circulating," wrote Dr. Soumya Swaminathan, chief scientist at the World Health Organization (WHO) in a tweet on Tuesday, March 8.