The pandemic is far from over

A new COVID variant that is being called deltacron for now as it combines elements of the delta and omicron variants, has been detected in several European countries, but it’s too early to say whether it’s more transmissible or more lethal than other ones.

The World Health Organization confirmed the variant has been found in small numbers in France, the Netherlands and Denmark, as WebMD reported.

“We have not seen any change in the epidemiology with this recombinant. We haven’t seen any change in severity. But there are many studies that are under way,” World Health Organization COVID-19 technical lead Maria Van Kerkhove, said at a news conference.

Experts say it's too soon to worry about deltacron. Compared with earlier variants, such as delta and omicron, this new variation – researchers have not adopted the "deltacron" name officially – appears unlikely to spread as easily, said William Lee, the chief science officer at Helix.

Hundreds of cases were reported in provinces and cities along China’s eastern coast and inland. Beijing, which had six news cases, and Shanghai, with 41, locked down residential and office buildings where infected people had been found.

Fully vaccinated people will need a fourth shot later in 2022, according to the head of Pfizer Inc., who said that COVID-19 is not going to just go away in the coming years.

Experts expect a COVID booster to become an annual occurrence, much like the flu shot, and that Pfizer is working on a vaccine that offers even better protection.

The continuing variants validate the need for ongoing national surveillance to identify potential variants of concern as part of an early warning system that monitors for new viral trends including COVID-19, flu and other viruses, experts added.

The global tally of confirmed cases of COVID-19 topped 456.9 million on Thursday, while the death toll rose above 6.04 million, according to data aggregated by Johns Hopkins University.