Rishard Khan
rishard.khan@guardian.co.tt
The emergence of the Deltacron coronavirus variant should be a reminder to all that the pandemic is not yet over and precautions always need to be taken. It's the sentiment shared by Geneticist Dr Nicole Ramlachan and internal medicine specialist Dr Joel Teelucksingh.
As its name suggests, the Deltacron variant is a combination of both the Delta and Omicron coronavirus variants. Small numbers of cases have already been detected in France, the Netherlands, Denmark, the United Kingdom and the United States. The variant has not yet been detected in T&T. It has also not yet been declared as a variant of concern by the World Health Organisation (WHO).
Based on international data, Dr Ramlachan said it doesn't appear to cause increased hospitalisations and deaths. The variant, she said, was expected.
"We know this is going to continue to happen because that's what happens with coronaviruses. They tend to accumulate mutations over time," Dr Ramlachan said.
"I think we need to understand that there's going to be more variants popping up before this thing (pandemic) ends before we get to a stage of being able to live with this endemically. This cycle is probably going to continue a few more times."
However, she said it highlights the need for people to remain vigilant.
"It's not going to be something that should be of great concern for you to stop your normal work patterns and so on...we need to continue the hand washing, the facemask wearing in public areas, the ventilation in offices those kinds of things need to continue, the social distancing and so on. As long as we have these circulating new variants as they come up, we're going to be seeing more and more cases," she said.
"I urge people to get boosters and get vaccinated if they haven't yet gotten vaccinated because that is the only real sure way to protect yourself against severe disease and death."
Dr Teelucksingh agreed the variant does not warrant any panic among the population.
"The presence of a mutant does not necessarily imply it is an apocalyptic event. Viruses mutate all the time. They require hosts to do so so it's a reminder that the COVID-19 pandemic is not yet over. It's a reminder that it is not endemic yet. It is that we're still in the thralls of a pandemic and the potential for a variant that may be deadlier is still there during the course of 2022. That's why the mitigation strategies that we have employed so successfully since the start of the pandemic are essential to continue," he said.
He said it's also crucial that people get boosted because new variants appear to be more able to evade immunity provided by vaccines.
"boosters will provide better protection against new variants such as the Omicron (variants) that may yet to come," he said.