There has been a sudden surge in the number of COVID-19 cases in the United States and Europe. Experts believe that a ‘Delmicron’ could be behind the explosion of coronavirus cases. This comes at a time when several countries are facing a large number of COVID-19 cases because of Omicron, which has been declared a ‘variant of concern’ by the World Health Organization (WHO).
What is Delmicron?
As the name suggests, Delmicron is clearly a combination of the Delta and Omicron variants. What is worrying is that it has the ability to transmit faster, much more than Omicron – which was spreading at a faster rate than any previous variants.
Terming it the ‘Delmicron’ wave, a member of Maharashtra’s COVID-19 task force said that there is a possibility that the countries in the West are caught between twin spikes of the Delta and the Omicron.
“Delmicron, the twin spikes of Delta and Omicron, in Europe and US has led to a mini tsunami of cases,” Shashank Joshi, who is a member of Maharashtra’s task force on COVID-19, was quoted as saying in a news report. Joshi said that Delta strain is widely exposed in India and it is to be observed how Omicron would impact Indians. The Omicron variant has replaced Delta in many countries and the number of people infected with this variant is increasing here as well.
How Delmicron is different from Omicron?
Omicron, which was first discovered in South Africa, is a highly mutated B.1.1.529 form of SARS-CoV-2. The WHO had reported the first case on November 24. It was named as such on November 26. While Delmicron is basically the twin spike of the Delta and Omicron variants.
Meanwhile, the number of new COVID-19 cases reported in Indian in the last 24 hours stands at 7,495. So far, there are around 236 cases of Omicron variant have been reported in India.