Lambda coronavirus variant: What you need to know - New York Daily News
New York Daily News |
Jul 07, 2021 at 7:00 AM
As the novel coronavirus has spread around the world, variants are emerging. The latest catching the eye of the World Health Organization is labeled Lambda. Here’s everything you need to know about it.
The novel coronavirus has infected a known 184.4 million worldwide and killed nearly 4 million, at least 605,830 of them in the U.S., according to Johns Hopkins University data. The number of infections has enabled the virus to mutate into several strains that the World Health Organization (WHO) has begun delineating with letters of the Greek alphabet.
A healtcare worker prepares a dose of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine at a vaccination site, in Arequipa, Peru, Saturday, June 26, 2021. (Guadalupe Pardo/AP)
The variant that sparked the change from the potentially confusing numerical designations based on country of origin was Delta, which is prevalent in India and on its way to becoming dominant elsewhere in the world as well.
Lambda was first identified in Peru at the end of 2020.
The Lambda variant, first identified in Peru, has been classified as a “variant of concern” by the World Health Organization based on its transmissibility, which is driven by changes in the so-called spike protein that latches onto healthy cells.
It is overtaking South America.
The World Health Organization says Lambda sparked 82% of Peru’s new Covid-19 cases in May and June, and almost a third of new cases in neighboring Chile, the Financial Times reported. Peru has the world’s highest coronavirus mortality rate.
It may be more transmissible than other varieties.
As recently as December in Peru the virus variant was only one in 200 samples, Pablo Tsukayama, a doctor in molecular microbiology at the Cayetano Heredia university in Peru’s capital Lima, told the Financial Times.
“By March, however, it accounted for about 50% of samples in Lima and now it’s about 80%,” Tsukayama told the Financial Times. “That would suggest its rate of transmission is higher than other variants.”
However, that is not definitive, and experts agree that more studies are needed, reported Euro News.
In this June 25, 2021, file photo, family member shovels dirt into the grave of Giro Quispe who died from complications related to the coronavirus, at El Cebollar cemetery, in Arequipa, Peru. (GUADALUPE PARDO/AP)
It has spread to at least 27 countries, including the U.K.
The Lambda variant was formerly known as C.37 when it was first detected. Among the 27 countries it has spread to is the U.K., according to the Financial Times, though there are only a small number of cases so far.
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Vaccine efficacy is not yet established.
While one study indicated that existing vaccines are effective against it, another study in preprint form – not yet peer-reviewed – indicates it may be more infectious than the Gamma and Alpha variants and can escape vaccine-produced antibodies with greater ease, the Financial Times said.
WHO has designated it a “variant of interest” rather than a “variant of concern.”
This means it has been identified as causing transmission or detected in multiple countries, according to Euro News.