Filenews 2 July 2021
Lambda, the latest variant of coronavirus that has caught the attention of the World Health Organization (WHO) and which worries the health authorities of South America where it first appeared, also puzzles some scientists because of the somewhat "unusual" mutations it involves.
Lambda, formerly known as C.37, was first detected in Peru in December 2020 and has since spread to 27 countries (and Europe). The variant now makes up about 82% of new cases in Peru, up from 50% in March and just 0.5% at the end of last year. In neighbouring Chile, Lambda now makes up almost a third of new cases of Covid-19 infection.
Microbiologist Pablo Tsukuyama of Cayetano Heredia University in Peru's capital Lima said, according to the Financial Times, that "this shows that Lambda's transmission speed is higher than in other variants."
Peru has the world's largest mortality due to Covid-19, but scientists are not yet sure whether Lambda mutations actually make it much more contagious or more deadly. "At the moment there is no evidence to suggest that it is more aggressive than other variants. It's possible that it has a higher degree of communicability, but more research is needed on this," said Dr Heiro Mendez Rico of the Pan American Health Organization.
Lambda, who has also been "baptized" under the new naming system with the letters of the Greek alphabet, is the seventh to attract the interest of the WHO. It is considered a smaller source of concern than the four main Alpha, Beta, Gamma and Delta (originally detected in Britain, South Africa, Brazil and India), but is observed with caution about how it will evolve.
On 23 June, the Public Health Service of England described Lambda as a variant under investigation "due to its international spread and several notable mutations." He added, however, that there is no evidence that Lambda causes a more serious disease or makes vaccines less effective.
Dr Jeff Barrett of the British Institute of Genetics Wellcome Sanger explained that "one reason it is difficult to determine the threat from Lambda, using computational and laboratory data, is that it has a rather unusual range of mutations, compared to other variants."
