The new Lambda COVID-19 strain has already been detected in more than 30 countries, the Health Ministry of Malaysia said on Monday, July 5.
“The Lambda strain was reported to have originated from Peru, the country with the highest mortality rate in the world,” the ministry said in a tweet on Monday.
The World Health Organization (WHO) on Tuesday, meanwhile, said that health officials are still monitoring the COVID-19 Lambda mutation and is not yet considered as a variant of concern.
“Lambda, at this point in time, still remains a variant of interest. That does not mean that we are not following it. We are still studying it and it doesn’t warrant a classification as a variant of concern at this point in time,” Dr. Rabindra Abeyasinghe, WHO representative to the Philippines, said in a virtual interview with ABS-CBN News on Tuesday.
The official confirmed that the new coronavirus strain has been detected in 30 countries.
Abeyasinghe, however, clarified that the virus has not yet showed characteristics that will warrant its classification as a variant of concern.
He added that there is still not enough information to say that it is more transmissible.
The health official pointed out that not all mutations mean that the virus is becoming a stronger variant as some gradually fade out, ABS CBN reported.
“And if we see that the virus is more transmissible, is causing more severe disease, is resilient to the currently available therapeutics or vaccines, then we will decide to call it a variant of concern,” he added.