Virologist spoke about the ability of omicron to combine with other strains – RBK

The Omicron coronavirus strain can combine with other variants in the human body, said Alexander Chepurnov, head of the laboratory for especially dangerous infections at the Center for Fundamental Translational Medicine, professor of virology. About it writes Ura.ru.

As long as the omicron does not supplant the previous variant of the delta coronavirus, people will be able to become infected with them at the same time, the virologist said.

He explained that the omicron structure contains part of the common cold virus. This variant of COVID-19 captured a whole fragment of the genome of another infection and the mutation was not accidental, Chepurnov noted.

It is the ability to exchange genetic material that explains the cases of simultaneous infection with two strains.