Expert doubts Deltacron variant exists, says lab contamination more likely
A new strain of Covid-19 was last week detected in Cyprus and named Deltacron because it was reportedly a mixture of the Omicron and Delta variants.
Suphakit Sirilak, director-general of the Department of Medical Sciences, on Monday, however, cast doubts on the existence of this new variant.
He said a researcher from Cyprus had sent data from 24 samples to the GISAID initiative showing that Deltacron had mutations from both Delta and Omicron variants. But, he said, if it was indeed a new variant then both the Cypriot researchers and GISAID should have come to the same conclusion. Instead, he said, GISAID has classified these 24 samples as the Delta variant.
Hence, it is likely that the samples were contaminated by the Omicron variant or all 24 patients were infected by both Delta and Omicron, which was unlikely, he said.
