The novel coronavirus remains in the spotlight, especially since there are all kinds of new variants and subvariants that are popping up. Check out the latest reports about how genomic sequencing can spot the next coronavirus variant.
Financial Times wrote a piece on this, and you can find out important details below.
According to the reports coming from the publication, it’s been revealed that there is a new coronavirus variant that fuses elements of Delta and Omicron – this was identified last week, according to the World Health Organization and GISAID, the initiative that tracks the mutation of viruses.
FT says that accor9ing to experts, its finding highlights the important role played by genomic surveillance.
“It has been detected in several regions of France, and in Denmark, the Netherlands and Germany. The variant — which is yet to be named by scientists but has been dubbed Deltacron in some media reports — has been in circulation since January.”
According to the latest reports, the WHO said it was not yet clear whether the variant is distinct from its predecessors in terms of infectiousness or severity. More studies are underway, this is what’s been reported.
FT also noted the following:
“Two years after the WHO declared Covid-19 a pandemic, global cases are beginning to subside but it still kills 50,000 people a week.”
Official data from governments noted that there are about 6 million people who have died in the pandemic.
Finding and tracking new coronavirus variants
Financial Times notes an important question in their article – How do scientists identify and track new variants?
Their answer is the following:
“The main way is through “genomic sequencing” of samples taken from Covid PCR tests. The genetic code of Sars-Cov-2 — its genome — is stored as a sequence of four biochemical “bases” strung out along a long molecule of RNA.”
Check out the complete article posted by FT in order to learn all the available details.
