Ministry Of Health Gives News That Deltacron COVID-19 Has Not Been Detected In Indonesia

JAKARTA - Secretary of the Directorate General of Public Health of the Ministry of Health, Siti Nadia Tarmizi, said that until now the Deltacron COVID-19 variant has not been detected in Indonesia.

Recently, the Deltacron variant has been confirmed to exist in several European countries. Mentioned, Deltacron is a combination mutation of the Delta variant with Omicron.

"Until now, using the WGS (whole genome sequencing) method, Deltracon has not been detected in Indonesia", Nadia said in a virtual press conference, Tuesday, March 15.

Nadia said the Ministry of Health was still monitoring the development of Deltacron mutations in several countries. This is because there are differences in mutation pathways for cases found in England and France.

"This development is still being monitored. Because there is no evidence related to increased transmission, severity and others", said Nadia.

Nadia ensures that the government continues to monitor developments and encourage the acceleration of COVID-19 vaccination efforts.

"Yes, it means that in the face of any potential transmission, the acceleration of booster and primary vaccinations must be accelerated", she said.

For information, 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 its spike protein -- which allows the virus to enter host cells -- comes from Omicron, according to Live Science based on the medRxiv paper.