While no one out of the scientist world would have guessed that two COVID variants could combine, creating a hybrid variant, it's actually possible and already happening. Friday, the British health experts announced they've uncovered "Deltacron" in at least one patient.
The variant is described by health experts as a recombinant, which means it carries traits of both variants, according to The Telegraph. The situation is rare, but not unheard of.
The mutation is believed to have evolved after a patient caught both the Delta and Omicron variants at the same time, though the Daily Mail reported that it is unclear if this happened in the United Kingdom or was brought in from out of the country.
At this point, health officials said it's unclear how many cases of Deltacron exist, and how the mutated virus interacts with existing vaccines.
The discovery of Deltacron comes at a time when both Delta and Omicron numbers are lowering in the UK, and both new cases and deaths are on a downward trend, according to the UK Health Security Agency.
Professor Paul Hunter, an infectious disease expert at the University of East Anglia, said he's not worried that the combination variant will be a problem.
"It doesn't fill me with dread. The reason is because, at present, both Delta and most versions of Omicron... are falling quickly and Delta is almost extinct in [the UK]," Hunter said in an interview with the Daily Mail.
"[Deltacron] will have shared antigens from both Delta and Omicron and we already have high levels of immunity to those."
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