Deltacron, the variant that combines the latest versions of the coronavirus

The supposed new strain has been detected among hospitalized patients in Cyprus and social networks joke with its name

The expected succession of mutations of the coronavirus has found an unexpected version in combination of two of the most active. This has been confirmed by the Biotechnology and Molecular Virology Laboratory of the University of Cyprus , which has claimed to have found a strange combination of delta and omicron in 25 different samples .

According to Keondios Ksotrikir, leader of the research, the new variant has the genetic signature of the omicron variant and the genomes of the delta variant. For this reason, it has been baptized as 'deltacron' .

Infection with two different coronavirus mutations is not currently a rarity, although the most contagious ones are pushing the rest of the other mutations apart. However, in this case the researchers assure that it has been found in patients who required hospitalization , which has put the researchers on alert despite the fact that its incidence of contagion seems less mild.

However, scientists in the rest of the planet have received the data with caution . In fact, some think that it is a mistake. "The first independent analyzes show that it is a technical error by the Cypriot laboratory in the genome reading process, " said Greek expert Gkikas Magiorkinis . Epidemiologists from Imperial College London have also questioned these results and point to some kind of "contamination" of the samples that would explain the complexity of such a variation.

On the technical side, the World Health Organization does not seem concerned about this possible variation, although it will deepen its study when the data is more established.