Explainer: "Deltacron" has indeed come

BEIJING, March 15 (Xinhua) -- As the Delta and Omicron variants of the novel coronavirus are rampant around the world, scientific researchers have proven that the so-called "Deltacron," a hybrid form of the two variants, has emerged and the global anti-pandemic efforts cannot be eased.

According to the Global Initiative on Sharing All Influenza Data (GISAID), there are "reliable evidences" showing that the recombinant form of the Delta and Omicron variants has emerged.

The World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed at a press conference recently that this recombinant virus has been detected in countries such as France, the Netherlands and Denmark.

In January, Professor of Biological Sciences Leondios Kostrikis at the University of Cyprus announced that he had discovered a new strain of coronavirus combining characteristics of the Delta and Omicron variants and named it "Deltacron."

After that, some countries detected the recombinant virus one after another.

So far, researchers have not officially named this recombinant virus.

On March 9, Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove, technical lead of the WHO's Health Emergencies Program, told a press conference that WHO has "not seen any change in the epidemiology with this recombinant, we haven't seen any change in severity but there are many studies that are underway."

Kerkhove reiterated that "the pandemic is far from over and not only do we need to focus on saving people's lives and reducing severe disease and death, we also have to focus on reducing the spread."