Compounding matters, a new strain combining Delta and Omicron has been found in Cyprus

There seem to be no happy tidings on the Coronavirus front, in fact all developments point to the contrary. Even as the nation recorded a single-day surge of 1.6 lakh new cases and Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a meeting to review the situation on Sunday, there were reports that Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala were leading the pack though Maharashtra received some respite. Meanwhile, ICMR chief Balram Bhargava said COVID antiviral drug, Molnupiravir, has major safety concerns and has not been included in the national protocol for treatment of Coronavirus, adding that the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the UK have not included it for treatment. However, as if the existing mutations weren’t enough headache for the Governments and peoples the world over, a professor of biological sciences in Cyprus has now claimed that a new strain of SARS-CoV-2 that combines the features of Delta and Omicron has been found in his country. Leondios Kostrikis, of the University of Cyprus and head of the Laboratory of Biotechnology and Molecular Virology, was quoted as saying: “There currently are Omicron and Delta co-infections and we found this strain to be a combination of these two. The discovery has been named Deltacron.”

However, to the optimist, the outlook isn’t all bleak. There is a ray of sunshine in the words of top US-based Israeli scientist Afshine Emrani, MD. His take, while at no point advocating the lowering of safety precautions, is that Omicron is literally the ‘vaccine’ pharma companies across the world could not make. “It is attenuated. Almost no hospitalisations. No critical patients. No oxygenation. No intubation. Everyone will be exposed and will get it. Mass herd immunity. Totally replaces Delta. Within 8-12 weeks, the world will be ‘vaccinated’. Why the panic? It could’ve been a lot worse. Show gratitude to nature for finally eliminating a manmade, lab-leaked nasty virus! We are blessed,” he tweeted recently. He went so far as to make a case against the restrictions imposed by the US Government in the wake of Omicron, saying: “Our Government’s reaction will be more harmful than the virus itself.” It is true that nobody can pierce through the heart of future and, therefore, fingers crossed! The earthlings have truly become sick of the pernicious virus and its sundry variants. May what Emrani says come true, and quickly!