The Lambda coronavirus disease (COVID-19) variant, first identified in Peru, is not a cause for alarm yet, the Philippine Genome Center (PGC) said Thursday, Sept. 2.
The World Health Organization (WHO) designates Lambda as a "variant of interest."
"What concerning about the Lambda variant is that Peru has some of the highest per capita death rates in the world in COVID, but we don't know whether it's truly because of the Lambda variant or the challenges in the healthcare system," PGC Executive Director Dr. Cynthia Saloma said in a virtual forum.
Saloma also noted that Lambda cases detected in 33 countries are "seen declining."
"In other countries also, we have not seen a rise in cases of the Lambda variant and that's why even in the US, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention does not even consider the Lambda variant as variant of interest," she added.
"So I guess we don't really have to concern too much about the Lambda variant... We have only detected one Lambda variant and we have not detected onward transmission so this is not quite a matter of concern as of now," Saloma continued.
Saloma said that the Delta variant is still the primary threat in the Philippines, but stressed that COVID-19 vaccines are still effective against the virus.
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"Vaccination and the practice of minimum public health standards are our best defense against these SARS-CoV-2 variants."
The country detected its first case of the Lambda variant in August.