'Deltacron' probably the result of a lab error, say experts

'Variant' is most likely the result of contamination in a laboratory, not a new strain

A technician carries out Covid-19 antibody neutralisation tests at the African Health Research Institute in Durban, South Africa. Bloomberg

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Experts said Monday that a hybrid coronavirus mutation called Deltacron, reportedly discovered in a Cyprus laboratory, is most likely to be the result of a test contamination, not a worrying new variant.

Cypriot media reported the discovery on Saturday, describing it as having "the genetic background of the Delta variant along with some of the mutations of Omicron".

While it is possible for coronaviruses to genetically combine, it is rare, and scientists analysing the discovery of Deltacron say it is unlikely.

"The Cypriot Deltacron sequences reported by several large media outlets look to be quite clearly contamination," Tom Peacock, a virologist at Imperial College London, tweeted at the weekend.

Jeffrey Barrett, the head of the Covid-19 Genomics Initiative at Britain's Wellcome Sanger Institute, said the "mutations" are on a part of the genome that is vulnerable to error in certain sequencing procedures.

"This is almost certainly not a biological recombinant of the Delta and Omicron lineages," Dr Barrett said on Monday.

Scientists are eager to battle disinformation about Covid-19, much of it circulating online.

Last week, unverified reports emerged of a "flurona" or "flurone" virus – a combination of a flu and the coronavirus – which the World Health Organisation dismissed on Monday.

"Let's not use words like Deltacron, flurona or flurone. Please," tweeted Maria van Kerkhove, an epidemiologist at the WHO.

"These words imply combination of viruses/variants and this is not happening."

While people can suffer from influenza and coronavirus at the same time, the two viruses cannot combine.

In contrast to new variants of Covid-19 such as Omicron, which greatly affect the course of the pandemic, cases of simultaneous infection of the flu and coronavirus are nothing new.

Since the start of the pandemic, the coronavirus has given rise to dozens of variants, four of which have been designated "of concern" by the WHO: Alpha, Beta, Delta and Omicron.