/Australia’s first case of COVID-19 hybrid strain ‘Deltacron’ detected in New South Wales | Sky News Australia

Australia’s first case of COVID-19 hybrid strain ‘Deltacron’ detected in New South Wales | Sky News Australia

Australia has detected its first Deltacron COVID-19 case, a hybrid strain of Delta and Omicron, in New South Wales.

NSW Health confirmed a Deltacron infection was one of two recombinant cases identified in the state in its weekly report, while the other was a combination of Omicron subvariants BA.1 and BA.2.

Health authorities reported the BA.2 sub-lineage of the Omicron variant was still the dominant strain, accounting for around 97 per cent of COVID-19 cases in NSW.

The emergence of hybrid variants has been anticipated by health officials as multiple strains circulate within the community.

The first case of Deltacron - a hybrid strain comprised of Delta and Omicron - has been detected in New South Wales. (Photo by Steven Saphore/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

However, there is no evidence to suggest the strain is more life-threatening or more likely to evade the effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines.

Deakin University epidemiology chair Catherine Bennett told Skynews.com.au Deltacron could end up being milder and less transmissible than Delta or Omicron.  

“If you put the two together you could end up with something that is less transmissible,” she said.

“We need to keep an eye on this, but we don’t need to worry because the vaccines worked really well with Delta and we know the booster works really well in terms of Omicron.

“I think that gives us the cover we need if Deltacron starts circulating.”

Dr Bennett added prior COVID-19 infection and high vaccination coverage, including booster shots, could also significantly reduce the severity and transmission of Deltacron. 

“Prior infection from Delta or Omicron could give you better cross protection as people have had one or the other or even both infections,” she said.

“We’re getting a more sophisticated immunity against coronavirus now.

“It’s reassuring that its not one super variant and its happening locally and is likely to not be going anywhere, we get new variants all the time and sometimes they just disappear.”

Deakin University epidemiology chair Catherine Bennett told Skynews.com.au Deltacron could end up being milder and less transmissible than Delta or Omicron. Picture: Christian Gilles / NCA NewsWire

Deltacron was first detected in France in mid-February, while a small amount of cases have emerged around Europe as well as the US. 

Most of its genetic sequence is the same as Delta’s but the part of the sequence that encodes the virus’ spike protein comes from Omicron.

NSW Health’s weekly report was for the seven days to April 2.

There were no new recombinant infections identified during that week but health authorities explained the two recombinant infections included in the report were identified “before”. 

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