Omicron May Have Evolved In Patient Co-Infected By Covid & Common Cold

A group of Indian researchers based in the US and Canada, in a major study, found that Omicron variant (B.1.1.529) may have evolved from a co-infected Covid-19 patient after the virus changed its genetic template.

- Syed Akbar

Hyderabad: A Covid-19 patient may have been simultaneously infected by one of the seasonal coronaviruses like HCoV-229E, which is one of the viruses that cause common cold. The genetic exchanges between the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV2) that causes Covid-19 and a seasonal coronavirus causing common cold may have given birth to Omicron, the only Covid-19 variant discovered so far with more than 50 mutations, the researchers said.

To arrive at the hypothesis, the research team from “nference”, a medical data research body based in the US, studied 54 lakh genomes of 1,523 lineages of Covid-19. It has also found Omicron to be unique in genetic makeup and different from the earlier lineages.