A combination of the Covid-19 variants, Omicron and Delta, is known as a Recombinant.
When Israel reported a new Covid-19 strain last week, there was quite a lot of speculation in the media about its origin and impact. The new strain is said to be a combination of Delta AY.4 and Omicron BA.1. And a combination of the Covid-19 variants, Omicron and Delta, is known as a Recombinant. Shining some light on the subject, World Health Organisation’s Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove recently broke her silence and said that WHO is very much aware of this recombinant.
“Yes, we are aware of this recombinant. It’s been detected but there are very low levels of this detection,” Kerkhove said. She further revealed that given the large and intense amount of circulation of both Omicron and Delta, the recombinant itself is something that was expected. In fact, according to Kerkhove, it was much easier for researchers, scientists, public health professionals to study the genome, scientists, public health professionals, and people studying the genome to detect these recombinants because of the sheer number of changes and mutations within Omicron.
What is the impact of the Recombinant?
Kerkhove has revealed that the WHO hasn’t seen any change in the severity of the recombinant, but it’s too soon to tell as many studies are still underway. “Unfortunately, recombinants are expected to develop because this is what viruses do, they change over time,” she said.
Kerkhove further stressed the need for testing and sequencing at this stage. “WHO has been aware of this because of our technical advisory group for Virus Evolution. So this is something that’s on our radar. It’s something that we are monitoring. So it’s very critical that we have tested and we must continue with sequencing so that we have a good geographic representation of sequencing around the world and that the systems that have been put in place for surveillance, for testing, for sequencing are right now being reinforced,” she said.