New Delhi: Amid several reports claiming about the presence of a new variant ‘Delmicron’ reports tells that Delmicron is a combination of Delta and Omicron variants of the novel coronavirus.
Meanwhile, Global health agencies like the World Health Organisation (WHO), the US Centre for Disease Control (CDC) have not commented on the Delmicron variant.
To clarify, there is no such COVID-19 variant as Delmicron and there is no information on another mutation of the SARS-CoV-2 virus after Omicron with health agencies. Notably, the Indian national COVID-19 task force and the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) have also not mentioned anything about this variant.
A member of Maharashta’s COVID-19 task force Dr Shashank Joshi had reportedly said on a News18 debate, “Delmicron, the twin spikes of Delta and Omicron, in Europe and US, has led to a mini tsunami of cases.” While some reports have also mentioned that there is a new variant named Delmicron, Dr Joshi’s statement does not seem to refer to that.
Dr Joshi has reportedly alluded to a situation wherein Delta and Omicron variants cause a spike in COVID-19 cases in a particular region. Simply put, it is not a new variant of COVID-19 but a situation wherein both Delta and Omicron variants either are found present in the same COVID-19 patient or are spreading rapidly in the same region.
Notably Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday chaired a high-level meeting to review the efforts to combat Covid-19 and Omicron strain and emphasised the need to be “satark” and “saavdhan”. He said the fight against the pandemic is not over and the need for continued adherence to COVID safe behaviour is of paramount importance even today.
