“One working hypothesis is that a new variant evolved in the body of a patient with a suppressed immune system.
It can be both HIV-infected, so, in general, immunodeficiency could be caused by other reasons, ”he said.
Khafizov also noted that, according to another version, the virus could enter the body of an animal, develop there, and then return to a person again.
“There is another hypothesis - that the virus jumped from humans to bats or some other animal, changed there, and then returned to the population.
But this is definitely not a descendant of the "delta", it is an independent branch, "- said an employee of Rospotrebnadzor.
Earlier, Skoltech professor Georgy Bazykin has already talked about hypotheses according to which the omicron coronavirus strain could arise in a patient with long postcoid syndrome or "jump" from animals.
Virologist Yevgeny Timakov, in an interview with FAN, gave a forecast regarding the situation with COVID-19 before the New Year holidays.