According to a report by the American Fun Science website on March 11, French scientists have confirmed for the first time through genome sequencing that the "delta chron" variant does exist, which combines the mutations in the new coronavirus delta variant and the Omikron variant.
Cases have now been reported in the United States and Europe.
Researchers at the Institute for Medical and Teaching of Mediterranean Infectious Diseases in Marseille, France, published an article on medRxiv, a preprint site for medical research papers, on March 8 that they confirmed the existence of the new variant through genome sequencing.
Moreover, the variant has been detected in several regions of France.
In addition, data provided by the Global Shared Influenza Database (GISAID) showed that cases related to "Delta Chron" were also found in Denmark and the Netherlands.
Helix, a California-based genetic research company, found two cases in the United States.
According to the British "Guardian" report, the United Kingdom has confirmed about 30 "Delta Coron" cases.
And, according to GISAID, the new variant may have been circulating in the population since January.
The French researchers pointed out that the new hybrid variant "Delta Chron" was produced by recombination.
Recombination is when two different variants of a virus infect a patient at the same time, exchanging genetic material to produce new offspring.
The paper, published in medRxiv, states that the "backbone" of the delta chron variant comes from the delta variant; its spike protein, the protein that enables the virus to enter host cells, comes from the omicron variant. body.
So far, scientists have not found the new variant to be as severe as previous variants, Maria van Kerckhoff, the World Health Organization's (WHO) coronavirus technical lead, said at a news conference. Nothing has changed, but many scientific studies are underway.
(Produced by Li Jiali)
Responsible editor: [Wang Shanshan]