Ukrainian scientists have discovered 12 variants of the Delta strain circulating in the country. One of them is new and is known for its severe course of the disease and high mortality rate. This was reported by the Institute of Molecular Biology and Genetics of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, writes UNN.
"Scientists at the Institute of Molecular Biology and Genetics of the National Academy of Sciences have completed work on the installation of coronavirus strains in the next samples provided by the Public Health Center of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine. The CDC of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine provided us with 74 samples for the study, which were taken from patients in 9 regions of Ukraine between November 18 and December 1, 2021. Using the new generation of whole genome sequencing, we found that all 100% of the samples are variants of the Delta strain. The IMBG scientists detected 12 different variants of the Delta strain, but their spectrum differs from those that were common in November," the report says.
In particular, a new variant of Delta strain AY.122 was detected for Ukraine, which is now actively spreading in Russia and is characterized by a severe course of the disease, high contagiosity (speed of infection) and high mortality rate.
Ukrainian scientists detected AY.122 in samples from seven regions of Ukraine: Dnepr, Sumy, Poltava, Nikolayev, Zhitomir, Odessa.
The high mortality rate in Ukraine (at the same time in Russia and Kazakhstan), compared to mortality rates in Western Europe and the United States, may be related to the peculiarities of Delta strains circulating in our expanses, in particular the AY.122 variant.
"The most samples for sequencing - 39 - were provided from Odessa. Among them scientists from IMBG found a whole spectrum, we can say a "bouquet" of Delta strain variants - 10 different types that originate from different countries of the world: the United States, EU states, Israel, Russia, etc.," the institute noted.
The Omicron strain was not found in the samples of this period provided for research.
