A highly changed coronavirus variant was found in deer after nearly a year in hiding, researchers suggest
CNN
An Omicron-like variant of the virus that causes Covid-19 -- one that appears to be highly divergent from circulating strains and sticks out on a long branch of the virus' family tree -- has been discovered in a population of white-tailed deer in Ontario, Canada, according to a new study.
The same strain has also been found in a person from the same area who had confirmed contact with deer, but there's no evidence of sustained transmission from deer to humans, and it's unlikely to pose an immediate threat to humans.
The researchers who first characterized what they are calling the Ontario WTD clade say it's difficult to determine how this lineage evolved because it seems to have gone along unnoticed and unsampled in the background of the pandemic for almost a year. They speculate that it spilled over from humans to deer and then back to at least one human.
The United States and 16 other countries whose citizens were taken hostage by Hamas on October 7 are set to release a joint statement Thursday calling on Israel and Hamas to come to an agreement on the most recent ceasefire and hostages proposal, according to a US official – marking the latest move in the Biden administration’s push to bring to an end the Israel-Hamas war.