As the new variant is a combination of the deadly Delta and contagious Omicron, health experts say there is need to wear mask and watch how it affects other countries
A woman gets a dose of vaccine at BYL Nair Hospital. Pic/Ashish Raje
With the emergence of Deltacron—a combination of the Delta and Omicron variants—healthcare experts and the WHO have advised people to be extra vigilant amid fears of a fourth wave around June. They say the new variant is a stable one, thus making it more challenging to control and treat as compared to the previous variants.
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The new variant was first confirmed in Southern France and has since been reported from the US, Germany and Netherlands. A genome test of the new variant was published on March 8 in international journal ‘medRxiv’. Meanwhile, Covid-19 is spreading fast in Hong Kong with nearly 32,000 daily cases and in China which has seen an exponential growth in the number of cases in the past few days.
Dr Wiqar Shaikh, professor of Medicine, Grant Medical College and Sir JJ Group of Hospitals, said Deltacron is a hybrid variant arising through a process called “recombination” in which two variants exchange genetic materials to create a new offspring. He added that the backbone of the new variant comes from the Delta variant while the spike protein comes from the Omicron variant. These findings regarding Deltacron has been independently confirmed by researchers at the Pasteur Institute in Paris.
Dr Santosh Bansode, Wockhardt Hospitals
Quoting the WHO, Dr Shaikh said Deltacron has a very intense circulation and infects both humans and animals, with a possibility of reinfection from animals. Several scientific studies are underway to determine the severity and transmissibility of this variant, he said, adding that genomic surveillance must be maintained to detect and characterise all recombination viruses.
‘May fuel 4th wave’
“The previous variants were unstable and their mutations can be quickly lost. Deltacron is the first recombinant variant and it is stable and is formed to stay for the foreseeable future. Hence, the new variants poses a greater risk and should start to ring alarm bells across the world. Health systems should quickly alert populations to return to masks and physical distancing. Some viral modellers have predicted that the next Covid wave in India in June-July will be caused by some of these new recombinant variants,” said Dr Subhash Hira, professor of Global Health at the University of Washington-Seattle and advisor to WHO-TDR-Geneva.
He added, “While Covid-19 was primarily affecting the respiratory system, the emergence of variants has broadened its pathology to include the heart, brain, intestines, kidneys, liver, eyes, and blood systems. Overall, anxiety and depression, including other mental illnesses, that were considered prevalent among 10 per cent of the world’s population before the pandemic, have now increased to 15 per cent. It will require a massive refurbishment of the mental healthcare system to provide care, prevention, and control services.”
Docs’ advice
“The Delta variant had high mortality while Omicron was extremely contagious. As the hybrid variant is a combination of the two, health authorities from various countries have raised caution about this leading to additional waves. However, the World Health Organisation has not as yet classified this as a variant of concern. Emergence of variants is a known phenomenon associated with viruses. Therefore, the best advice to citizens is appropriate use of the mask in addition to vaccination,” said Dr Ketan Vagholkar, professor of Surgery at DY Patil Medical College.
“While most people have received two doses of vaccine and several have gotten infected in the past, leading to the formation of antibodies, we know that antibodies dip with time. So there is a risk of spread of Deltacron,” said Dr Santosh Bansode, Head of the Department, Emergency Medicine, Wockhardt Hospitals, Mumbai Central.
“As Covid-19 cases have seen a gradual drop, masks are not compulsory in many countries. And it will be the case in India soon. In this scenario, if the new variant starts spreading, we may face problems again. We must observe what’s happening in countries where this variant has been detected. We must not relax and should always remain careful and watchful,” Dr Bansode said.
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