LAMBDA VARIANT OF COVID-19
- The World Health Organization has recently declared the C.37 mutation of the SARS-COV-2 virus to be a new variant which could be a potential factor adding caseloads.
- It was first observed in Peru, soon spreading across countries in South America and becoming a predominant strain there.
- The Lambda variant, though not a variant of concern yet, is being doubted as a possible threat because of the high transmissibility and mutatious features it carries.
- World Health Organization designated the Lambda variant as the newest “variant of interest”,
- The Lambda variant carries at least 7 mutations in its spike proteins, which make it lethal and cause heightened transmissibility. The Delta variant, a VoC, has three mutations to it.
- It is being suspected that the Lambda variant’s heavy mutations allow for easier infectivity and could possibly also allow it to evade vaccine-driven antibodies, and even natural ones.
- So far, zero reports of the Lambda variant have been traced in India, or neighbouring countries, official reports suggest.
- Variants of Interest (VOI)
- With genetic changes that are predicted or known to affect virus characteristics such as transmissibility, disease severity, immune escape, diagnostic or therapeutic escape; AND
- Identified to cause significant community transmission or multiple COVID-19 clusters, in multiple countries with increasing relative prevalence alongside increasing number of cases over time, or other apparent epidemiological impacts to suggest an emerging risk to global public health.
- Variants of Concern (VOC)
- A SARS-CoV-2 variant that meets the definition of a VOI (see below) and, through a comparative assessment, has been demonstrated to be associated with one or more of the following changes at a degree of global public health significance:
- Increase in transmissibility or detrimental change in COVID-19 epidemiology; OR
- Increase in virulence or change in clinical disease presentation; OR
- Decrease in effectiveness of public health and social measures or available diagnostics, vaccines, therapeutics.
- A SARS-CoV-2 variant that meets the definition of a VOI (see below) and, through a comparative assessment, has been demonstrated to be associated with one or more of the following changes at a degree of global public health significance: