She noted that the strain “discovered” by Cypriot scientists is likely the result of contamination of a sample or equipment during the sequencing of the coronavirus genome. The specialist urged not to use the word “deltacron”, since it implies a combination of variants of the virus, which, according to her, did not happen.
Scientists from the University of Cyprus Leontios Kostrikis said on Saturday about the discovery of a new variant of SARS-CoV-2, which allegedly turned out to be a hybrid of the already known strains “delta” and “omicron”. According to them, the strain was found in 25 inhabitants of the island, 11 of whom were hospitalized. The researchers gave their “find” the name “deltacron”, stating that it has the same genetic basis with the “delta” and at the same time there are mutations characteristic of the “omicron”.
Rospotrebnadzor was skeptical about this information: according to the department’s specialist Kamil Khafizov, upon careful study, the data turned out to be similar to “laboratory contamination”, that is, contamination of some samples with others.
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