Suspected Mixed Strains of “Deltaqueron” Identified; Twenty-Five Infected

The Jerusalem Post quoted Cypriot media as saying that researchers at the University of Cyprus have found a suspected recombination of Delta and Omicron in Cyprus, which is closer to delta but has a large number of unique mutations of the Omicron strain.

That’s why the strain was named “Deltacron” by the researchers.

The “Deltacron” strain combines mutated elements of Delta and Omicron.

As Previously reported by Red Star News, as the Omicron strain began to spread rapidly, scientists in several countries warned that a new, more dangerous super variant of the Coronavirus could be created if people were infected with both the Delta and novel Coronavirus variants.

When the two mutated strains infect the same cell at the same time, they have an opportunity, “a phenomenon called recombination, which means they can start sharing and exchanging genes” to synthesize a new strain, said Paul Burton, chief medical officer of COVID-19 vaccine maker Moderna.

Twenty-five people have been infected

The President of the republic of Cyprus COVID – 19 science advisory committee, director of the biotechnology and molecular virology laboratory at the university of Cyprus ray ang devol cosgrove Regis team has been tracking the country will be coronavirus variation situation, team after the sequencing of 1377 samples, found that there are 25 people infected with this new strain, Although its genetic sequence is similar to that of the Delta strain, there are 10 specific mutations of the Omicron strain. At the same time, as many as 14 of the 25 infected people are hospitalized.

“There is a co-infection of the Omikron and Delta strains, and we found a recombination of the two,” Kosregis said. And the analysis showed that the variant was more common among hospitalized patients than among those who were not. The team has uploaded the genome of the strain to the GISAID international database and will continue to see if the variant is more pathogenic or infectious, or if it will become epidemic.

The discovery of the strain is controversial

But the discovery of the strain has been controversial as well as cause for widespread concern. Thomas Peacock, a postdoctoral research fellow in infectious diseases at Imperial College London, said in a tweet that there were some indications that the so-called Deltacron could be the result of contaminated genetic sequencing.

Studies have shown that recombination is very common in coronaviruses and plays an important role in novel coronavirus evolution. In July 2020, researchers from Duke University, Los Alamos National Laboratory and other institutions published a paper in The journal Nature that novel Coronavirus is likely to acquire the ability to infect humans through recombination. In August 2021, researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory published a pre-print paper showing that the recombination has significantly accelerated the emergence of novel Coronavirus new variants.

In conclusion, it is important to monitor the Novel Coronavirus genome for evidence of recombination, both to provide insight into the virus and to provide early warning of the emergence of a “superstrain” recombination.

Who: Omicron strain is spreading widely globally

Maria van Kerhoff, technical director of who’s Health Emergencies programme, said on Sunday that the omicron strain is spreading rapidly and has been detected in all parts of the world, wherever there is adequate virus sequencing capacity.

In South Africa and Botswana, where the omicron strain was first identified, transmission levels of the Delta strain were low and the omicron strain quickly became the dominant circulating strain.

In other regions, the Delta strain had been circulating intensively, and after the omicron strain emerged, both strains were circulating simultaneously.

In some countries and regions, the Omicron strain is replacing the Delta strain as the dominant epidemic strain.

In other countries and regions, however, the Omicron strain has not yet replaced the Delta strain.

Omicron is spreading at a high rate, and U.S. medical supplies cannot meet the demand for testing

According to CCTV news, due to the rapid spread of the omicron strain, the number of hospitalized COVID-19 patients in the US and the need for novel coronavirus tests have been surging in recent days, and an increasing number of state health systems are running short of manpower and supplies.

Meanwhile, fake Novel Coronavirus tests have also been found on the market in the US, adding to the public’s confusion.

Over the past seven days, the average number of COVID-19 patients treated in hospitals in the United States has exceeded 138,000, a significant increase from about 45,000 two months ago, according to us media statistics.

At the same time, hospitals are increasingly understaffed. A Virginia health care provider admitted Thursday that the hospital’s current staff “can no longer provide the same quality of care as last year.”

Forty hospitals in New York state have been ordered to “discontinue elective surgeries that are not essential or urgent for at least two weeks” due to a shortage of hospital beds, the State Health Department said in a statement on Monday.

The rapid spread of the virus has also forced more Americans to frequent testing sites for nucleic acid tests or to purchase rapid testing kits that can be used at home.

There have been long lines at testing centers in many parts of the country, with some people waiting for hours without being able to get tested.

California Governor Gavin Newsome said On Sunday (local time) that more than 200 National Guard troops will be deployed to dozens of nucleic acid testing sites to help overburdened health care facilities.

The Utah Department of Health announced on the same day that the four nucleic acid testing sites set up by the state government will only accept test by appointment from August 8.

Rapid test kits are hard to find. Residents of Miami, Florida, began lining up early On Monday to get free kits.

(SOUNDBITE) (English) LOCAL RESIDENT, DOMINGUEZ, SAYING: “The queues are horrible, very, very long, and the pharmacies are almost always sold out.”

(SOUNDBITE) (English) LOCAL RESIDENT, Leon, SAYING: “With so many people in South Florida, they run out of kits so fast, so you have to get up early in the morning.”

Others try to buy rapid test kits through other channels, such as the Internet, but face the risk of buying fakes.

The FOOD and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) recently issued a special alert, urging people to pay attention to the authenticity of the test kit, as far as possible from formal sources.

Public health experts in the United States say frequent testing is especially important in the face of the more contagious omicron strain.