According to its, the Ministry of Health in the United Kingdom officially began surveillance of a hybrid strain of Delta and Omicron coronaviruses, known as “Deltacron”, after identifying a patient in the country last week health protection agency.
It is thought to have mutated in a patient who caught both forms together. Still, it is unclear whether it first mutated in the U.K. or any other country.
A month earlier, Cypress University virologist Leondios Kostrikis said he had identified DeltaCron, which many experts dismissed as possible laboratory contamination or error. According to the Dutch wire agency, BNO News, the search is unrelated.
The Friday update from the U.K.’s Health Security Agency showed the “Delta x Omicron Recombinant” was currently under “monitoring and investigation.”
Delta and Omicron have been highly contagious, but it is unclear how widespread or virulent the hybrid strain is. According to the Mirror, the agency did not say whether it has been found in more than one patient.
The Daily Mail, citing a source, reported that U.K. health officials at the agency are not particularly concerned about the new strain at this point because the case numbers remain low.
Paul Hunter, an infectious disease specialist at the University of East Anglia, told the publication: “Deltacron should not pose much of a threat, as most of the population is vaccinated or has a certain level of immunity to avoid the disease.”
