‘Lambda’ Covid-19 strain: WHO identifies new variant in 29 countries

The World Health Organization (WHO) announced on June 16, 2021 that a new COVID-19 variant has been spreading in 29 countries, notably in South America.

The COVID-19 variant, named as ‘Lambda’, was first identified in Peru, according to WHO. Earlier this week, WHO declared the Lambda variant as a global ‘Variant of Interest’ which is believed to be originated from South America.

According to WHO, the Lambda Covid-19 variant was first detected in August last year and is spreading rapidly in Peru with 81% of the covid-19 cases reported since April in the country were associated with this variant.

Chile also reported the presence of the new variant where it accounts for 32% of all submitted sequences in the preceding 60 days.

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The Lambda variant was also reported in other countries in South America, such as Argentina and Ecuador.

As per WHO, the mutations present in the Lambda Covid-19 variant might increase its transmission or further strengthen the virus’s resistance to the antibodies.

The ‘Variant of Interest’ is not a threat to the general public like the ‘Variant of Concern’ which is a major threat as it spreads at a faster pace and infects a large number of people.

For example, the Delta Covid-19 variant spreading in India has been classified as a “variant of concern” by the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) earlier this week.

As per the US CDC statement, apart from the Delta Covid-19 variant (B.1.617.2), other strains classified as ‘variants of concern are the B.1.1.7 (Alpha), B.1.351 (Beta), P.1 (Gamma), B.1.427 (Epsilon), and B.1.429 (Epsilon) Covid-19 variants.