The World Health Organization (WHO) said that a new variant of Covid-19 called lambda has been identified in 29 countries and specifically in South America where it originated. WHO said in its weekly update The lambda variant, first identified in Peru, was classified as a Global Variant of Interest on June 14 because of its widespread presence in South America.
At the same time, officials said that the lambda variant has been found in Peru where 81 percent of Covid-19 cases have been found related to it since April 2021. In Chile, this variant was identified in 32 percent of all submitted sequences in the last 60 days, and was downregulated only by the gamma variant. Which was first recognized in Brazil. Along with this, other countries of South America such as Argentina and Ecuador have also informed about the spread of this new Covid-19 variant in their country.
At the same time, the WHO said that lambda variants contain mutations that can increase infection or strengthen the virus’s resistance to antibodies. However, according to the Geneva-based organization, the evidence of how effective this new variant will be is currently very limited and more studies are needed to better understand the lambda variant.
Unlike the variant of concern, the variant of interest, which has previously become the headline of newspapers around the world, this variant has been closely watched by health organizations but has not yet proved to be a threat to public health. At the same time, the variant of concern is being seen as a big threat. This variant has the ability to spread rapidly and infect people.
The latest example is the Delta variant which was first identified in India. It was first recognized as a variant of concern till 11 May 2021. However, its rapid spread around the world forced the WHO to classify it as a variant of concern.