Omicron+Delta recombinant cases detected from 7 states in India: Report. Check symptoms for hybrid COVID variant

KEY STORY

• After evidence of Omicron, Delta recombinant virus was found earlier this month, reports suggested similar cases were also detected from India. The COVID Genomics Consortium (INSACOG) and GSAID indicate that as many as 568 cases are under the scanner. As per Telangana Today report, Karnataka remains a hotspot with 221, followed by 90 in Tamil Nadu, 66 in Maharashtra, 33 in Gujarat, 32 in West Bengal, 25 in Telangan and 20 in New Delhi. Regarding recombinants, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said, with both Omicron and Delta spreading at an intense, it was expected. Check out the symptoms for the strain.

What are the symptoms for recombinant virus?

According to the NHS UK, the symptoms of Omicron, Delta recombinant virus remain as they have been for most of the pandemic, but scientists are still monitoring it. The NHS says the common Covid symptoms are:

High temperature: This means you feel hot to touch on your chest or back (you do not need to measure your temperature).

New, continuous cough: This is defined as coughing a lot for more than an hour, or three or more coughing episodes in 24 hours (if you usually have a cough, it may be worse than usual).

What is the Omicron, Delta recombinant virus? 

It is hybrid version of the coronavirus that combine genes from the Delta and Omicron variants, was found by experts. Philippe Colson of IHU Mediterranee Infection in Marseille, France, who is the lead author for the study, “During the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, two or more variants have co-circulated during same periods of time and in same geographical areas… This created opportunities for recombination between these two variants.”

Loss or change to your sense of smell or taste (anosmia): This means you have noticed you cannot smell or taste anything, or things smell or taste different to normal.

What is the Omicron, Delta recombinant virus?

It is hybrid version of the coronavirus that combine genes from the Delta and Omicron variants, was found by experts. Philippe Colson of IHU Mediterranee Infection in Marseille, France, who is the lead author for the study, “During the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, two or more variants have co-circulated during same periods of time and in same geographical areas… This created opportunities for recombination between these two variants.”

How was strain detected?

Deltacron’s story begins in mid-February, when scientists at the Institut Pasteur in Paris uploaded a genetic sequence of the coronavirus that looked very different from previous sequences.

The virus sample had come from an elderly man in northern France and looked odd. Most of its genetic sequence was the same as delta’s, which was dominant worldwide up until late last year, but the part of the sequence that encodes the virus’s spike protein – a key part of its external structure, which it uses to get inside cells in the body – came from omicron. By March, three further hybrid genetic sequences had been reported, this time in the US. There are now over 60 logged, across France, the Netherlands, Denmark, the US and the UK.