Deltacron was identified in January 2022 by a lab in Cyprus and is a portmanteau of Delta and Omicron and contains genetic material from both Covid-19 variants making this new variant a recombinant one but some medical experts doubt Deltacron exists.
The new variant has an entry in Dictionary.com describing it as “the name given to a supposed combination of the Delta and Omicron variants of the COVID-19 virus; however, many scientific experts have concluded that it does not exist. A number of virologists have said that the appearance of a combined strain was simply the result of contamination of the samples in which it was thought to have been detected. Deltacron is, in fact, not a variant, but a broad nickname describing variants that contain a mixture of mutations found in Delta and Omicron.”
An article titled “What Is Deltacron? A New Coronavirus Variant Or Lab Error?” reports that the lab responsible for discovering the new variant said “on 7 January [that the] team had discovered Deltacron in 25 patients [and the] variant appeared to be a mix of the delta and omicron variants” (Majumder).
Because there are so few cases the World Health Organization has not classified it as a variant of concern. Epidemiologist William Hanage of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health said “It’s only a variant if it produces a large number of cases…if it’s not causing lots of cases, people don’t need to be concerned” (Ellis).
Social Media Trends as of May 20, 2022
Facebook #deltacron: 11,000 people are posting about this
Instagram #deltacron: 6,960 posts
TikTok #deltacron: 24.9 million views
YouTube #deltacron: 1,100 videos and 525 channels
Google Trends: deltacron appeared on January 8, 2022 and peaked during the second week of that month before fading into obscurity by the beginning of April 2022.
Sources:
“Deltacron.” Dictionary.com. January 18, 2022. URL: https://www.dictionary.com/e/
tech-science/deltacron/.
Ellis, Ralph. “Scientists Identify New COVID Variant Called ‘Deltacron’” WebMD. March 11, 2022. URL: https://www.webmd.com/lung/news/20220311/new-covid-variant-deltacron.
Guha Majumder, Bhaswati. “What Is Deltacron? A New Coronavirus Variant Or Lab Error?” Swarajyamag.com. January 10, 2022. URL: https://swarajyamag.com/news-brief/what-is-deltacron-a-new-coronavirus-variant-or-lab-error.
Juan. “Lexicon images. “Researcher with blood sample of New Variant of the Covid-19 DELTACRON and generic data of covid-19 Coronavirus Mutations. Doctor in analysis lab holding sample of new strain of covid DELTACRON” image. Adobe.com. File no: 479256877.