COVID-19 Lambda strain now seen in Australia from a patient quarantined.
Lamda Strain
The Lambda strain is originally from Peru, which is the cause of almost 81% of the country's cases in April. The World Health Organization has observed the Lambda strain ever since it was first spotted in the United States, United Kingdom, and Germany.
Right now, there are over 31 countries that have the strain, and medical experts are rushing to see just how infectious and deadly it is towards vaccinated and unvaccinated populations. Doctors over in South America have said that it is by far the most transmissible variant based on its spread over the past four months.
Researchers who are focused on tracking the Coronavirus spread have yet to prove that it is more contagious than the already existing Delta or "Delta Plus" strains. Some believe that there is no evidence to suggest that it is deadlier despite experts linking the spread in Pero to have the world's worst mortality rate from COVID-19.
Lambda Variant in Australia
The most recent case happens in Australia, wherein the infected is currently undergoing hotel quarantine in New South Wales since April. The strain is also known as C.37. It was dubbed by scientists who have already started studying the strain since last month ordered by WHO due to the high infection rate.
There is no news or evidence to support that Australia's population has been exposed to the Lambda variant as of now. Pablo Tsukayama, a professor at Cayetano Heredia University, has mentioned that the strain "exploded" in Peru.
Tsukayama spoke with Financial Times that the variant showed itself as only one out of 200 samples since it was first spotted in December 2020.
"That would suggest its rate of transmission is higher than any other variant," Tsukayama warns.
Experts Are Still Skeptical
There are a large number of experts trying to subside the panic and concerns of the masses, saying that up until now, there is no evidence to support that it is a more grievous threat than the other strains found so far.
Jairo Mendez Rico is an adviser on emerging diseases for the Pan-American Health Organization, said there needs to be more work and research to be done until enough proof is gathered to determine the severity of the Lambda variant.
Another expert, Dr. Jeffrey Barrett, says that it's proven difficult to identify the severity of the threat regarding the Lambda variant as lab and computer data show that it has unusual sets of mutations compared to the identified variants.
However, the mutant strain named L452Q is why scientists believe that the variant is more transmissible than the rest.
The people on Twitter were first to be concerned regarding the Lambda variant as the Malaysian Health Ministry tweeted,
"The Lamda strain was reported to have originated from Peru, the country with the highest mortality rate in the world."
Read More: CDC Says New COVID-19 Delta Variant Increases Transmission Rate by 10%
This article is owned by Tech Times
Written by Alec G.
