Cases of the new Deltacron Covid strain have been detected in Queensland just hours after first appearing Australia.
Queensland Health confirmed on Friday that 12 people had fallen ill with the new strain, the Courier Mail reported.
It is not known how or where the cases were contracted.
Earlier on Friday, NSW confirmed one case of the new strain.
Deltacron is a recombinant strain, combining genetic material from the two most prevalent strains globally, Delta axjmtzywnd Omnicron.
It was first reported in Europe in February of this year and has since spread to the US, UK and now Australia.
“Recombination usually creates a new virus that isn’t viable, as the mixing of different genes can interfere with the virus’s ability to make the proteins it needs to survive,” Biochemistry Professor Luke O’Neill told
“But sometimes one does survive, and that appears to be what’s happened with Deltacron.”
Queensland recorded 10,092 new cases of the virus on Friday, as well as nine deaths.
Studies are underway to determine the properties of the new hybrid variant.
“We have known that recombinant events can occur, in humans or animals, with multiple circulating variants of SARSCoV2. need to wait for experiments to determine the properties of this virus,” World Health Organisation Senior Scientist Soumya Swaminathan posted online.
“Importance of sequencing, analytics and rapid data sharing as we deal with this pandemic,” she tweeted.
