(Photo : Spencer Platt/)
Two Years Since First Covid Case In U.S., The Virus Continues Its Spread
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - JANUARY 21: A person visits a Covid-19 testing site along a Manhattan street on January 21, 2022 in New York City. Two years ago, the CDC confirmed the first known case of coronavirus in the U.S. As New York City's Covid numbers begin to plateau, and in some neighborhoods sharply drop, Covid case numbers are still increasing in many regions of America. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
A new COVID-19 variant has been discovered, which is a hybrid of the Delta and Omicron types, dubbed "Deltacron."
The novel COVID-19 combination has been found in France, the Netherlands, and Denmark, according to the World Health Organization. According to a recent article due to be published on the research site MedRxiv, it's also been discovered in the United States.
New COVID-19 Variant
The Omicron variation makes up every single sequenced COVID-19 in the United States, with the original BA.1 variant accounting for 88 percent of instances and the BA.2 'stealth' variant accounting for 12%, according to USA Today. While it is too early for the general public to be concerned, this maybe the next threat lying around the corner.
The number of cases per day in the United States is presently 37,524 per day, down 36% in the last week and almost 95% when the variety peaked at about 800,000 per day in mid-January. The combination of Delta and Omicron genetic material resulted in two infections involving separate forms of deltacron, according to the researchers. Twenty additional infections had both the Delta and Omicron variants, with one instance having all three.
According to the research team, which included the University of Washington Medical Center and testing company Thermo Fisher Scientific, the San Mateo, California-based lab Helix, which works with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to track COVID-19, sequenced 29,719 positive COVID-19 samples collected from November 22 to February 13 from across the United States.
Viruses that cause COVID-19, such as the SARS-CoV-2 strain, can alter and evolve. For example, the delta variation was generated by mutations that resulted in a variant that made people more infectious sooner. The omicron form was shown to be more infectious and to reinfect some people who had previously been infected with COVID-19.
Mutations usually occur in a steady stream until one gets powerful enough to create a new variation. Many distinct mutations occurred in this example, maybe as a result of the delta's continuing presence within the omicron wave. While the public may not need to be concerned about this latest variation, researchers may learn from it, as per Daily Mail.
Read Also: COVID-19 Death Toll: Global Deaths Nearing 6 Million Mark, Almost 1 Million From the US
COVID-19 Vaccine Booster Will be Required in Fall
A new study adds to the growing body of evidence that trained dogs can assist screen crowds for persons sick with the coronavirus. Nearly 400 individuals gave sweat samples as part of conventional PCR tests at two community screening clinics in Paris. Overall, PCR results showed that 78 persons with symptoms and 31 people without symptoms were positive.
According to a paper published on MedRxiv on Tuesday ahead of peer review, when given sweat samples to sniff, the canines were 97 percent accurate in detecting infected patients and 100 percent accurate in detecting infection in asymptomatic patients. They were also 91 percent accurate in identifying infected participants and 94 percent successful in ruling out infection in persons who had no symptoms.
The CDC's director, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, told NBC News on Monday that she expects COVID-19 would become a seasonal virus, similar to the flu, producing modest outbreaks during the cooler autumn and winter months before staying dormant for the rest of the year. She also does not anticipate a significant COVID-19 rise this summer.
Dr. Scott Gottlieb, the former director of the Food and Drug Administration, said last week that he expects a peaceful summer until the virus returns this autumn. Last month, Moderna CEO Stephane Bancel said he expects the next COVID-19 booster shot to be required in the fall, implying there is a risk for the virus to resurface during that time.
While officials are hopeful that this can be avoided this time, with nearly 90% of American adults have received one shot of the COVID-19 vaccine and more than 95 million Americans boosted, CDC officials say they are not resting on their laurels, Business World Online reported
Related Article: Australia: Experts Warn About Possible COVID-19 Mutation Due to Drug Treatments
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