Stealth Deltacron and Omicron, worrisome variants

Is this a sign of a new phase of the fight against the epidemic that has lasted for the 3rd year globally? The Independent (UK) on March 19 compared these two sub-variants and their presence at the present time.

According to the Independent, hopes that the COVID-19 pandemic is coming to an end have been poured with cold water with the latest statistics. The number of new cases in the UK continues to increase. Mainland China must witness a new wave of serious epidemics. South Korea recorded a record high number of new cases. Africa has a 14% increase in new cases. New sub-variants appear like Stealth Omicron is believed to be the driving factor behind this situation.

What is Deltacron?

As the name suggests, this is a variant that combines elements of both the Delta variant and the Omicron variant. It is believed to have arisen from a patient infected with both Delta and Omicron variants at the same time. This “hybrid” variant has been detected in some parts of France and appears to have started spreading more widely since early January. About 30 Deltacron infections have been detected in the UK.

This variant was officially recognized as a new variant after its full genome sequencing results were sent to GISAID by the Pasteur Institute in Paris, the updated map of the SARS-CoV-2 gene sequencing results, constantly updated by scientists around the world. This map was consulted by scientists in different countries, closely following the evolution of SARS-CoV-2.

The level of danger of this variant is still being studied and evaluated. It’s essentially the same as Delta, analysts say, but has the spike protein of Omicron, the part where the virus attaches to human cells. There are major concerns about Deltacron if it combines Delta’s high virulence with Omicron’s rapid infectivity. However, because the human immune system is increasingly resistant to both types of variants, the preliminary assessment of the scientific community so far has not been that Deltacron is not such a serious threat.

What is Stealth Omicron?

Compared to Deltacron, the stealthy Omicron is more prominent at the moment. This is a sub-variant of Omicron also known as BA.2 (Omicron is BA.1) and was first discovered in the UK last December. Researchers are thinking that this is the most contagious corona virus strain ever.

Professor Adrian Esterman, a former epidemiologist at the World Health Organization (WHO), said: “The baseline infection index with BA.2 is about 12. It is equivalent to measles, an infectious disease. the best we’ve ever known.” So far, stealthy Omicron is thought to account for more than half of all new cases in the UK while also appearing in Germany, China and India. In Denmark, it caused a strong wave of infections this past February.

However, there are also optimistic signals like in Denmark, the number of new cases has skyrocketed and is now decreasing. While initial data suggest that the virulence of stealthy Omicron is not stronger than that of Omicron and is also sensitive to vaccines.

Scale of infection

Global numbers for Deltacron are still unknown. Initially, about 30 cases were identified in the UK, about 20 cases in the US, some cases in France (where this sub-variant was first discovered) as well as in the Netherlands and Denmark.

With the stealthy Omicron, the numbers are clearer. In the UK, this subvariant accounted for 57% of the 27,000 new cases recorded in the last week of February. In the US, the stealthy Omicron accounted for about 23.1% of all cases. The wave of epidemics in mainland China, Hong Kong (China) and South Korea is attributed to both Omicron and Omicron stealth.