First discovered in the South American nation of Peru, the Lambda variant of SARS-CoV-2 virus has been reported from Australia today, on July 6. The variant, because of its unusual mutations is being touted as having the properties that make it more easily transmissible than all other variants of COVID19.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has stated that the variant’s mutations could increase its transmissibility or possibly heighten its resistance to neutralising antibodies. WHO has termed Lambda, or C.37, variant of COVID19 as a ‘variant of interest’.
The Lambda variant has been found in at least 27 different countries across the globe. The variant was discovered for the first time in Peru in December, last year.
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The variant was reported in Australia three days after the WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus stated on July 3 that the world is in a very ‘dangerous period’ of the pandemic.
“Compounded by more transmissible variants, like Delta, which is quickly becoming the dominant strain in many countries, we are in a very dangerous period of this pandemic,” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a press briefing.
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“No country is out of the woods yet. The Delta variant is dangerous and is continuing to evolve and mutate, which requires constant evaluation and careful adjustment of the public health response,” he added.
The WHO chief also pointed out that the Delta variant has been detected in at least 98 countries and is spreading quickly in countries with low and high vaccination coverage.
Also, a report published by SBI Research claims that the COVID19’s third wave is likely to hit the country next month in August and it will peak in September.
“India has achieved its second wave peak on 7 May’21 and going by the current data, India can experience cases around 10,000 somewhere around the 2nd week of July. However, the cases can start rising by the second fortnight of August,” reads the report.
