Public Health vice chief shoots down possibility of ‘Deltacron’
A reported cocktail of the Omicron and Delta variants, called “Deltacron”, was only a Delta sample contaminated with Omicron, Public Health Committee vice president Dr Chalermchai Boonyaleepun wrote on his Facebook page on Wednesday.
Earlier, an international news agency reported that a scientist in Cyprus had discovered the so-called Deltacron.
However, GISAID had completed a genome sequencing of 24 samples from Cyprus and found that most genes were actually the Delta variant, with only two Omicron spike proteins – A67V and 69-70 Del. Both of them were found in the 24 samples but Delta’s genes were different.
Chalermchai believed that GISAID’s sequencing was “correct”, concluding that the sample was not a new variant but the Delta variant itself. It was likely to have been contaminated.
The World Health Organisation and a British virologist were also of the opinion that a “technical problem” could have been the cause of the “contamination”.
Chalermchai said matter of factly that this spelt the end of the Deltacron discussion.
