Experts from Japan are investigating the lambda variant of the coronavirus and attribute a higher risk of infection to it. An expert disagrees and criticizes it heavily.
Frankfurt – The corona pandemic continues to have a firm grip on Germany and the whole world. After a few weeks with a lower number of cases, the 7-day incidence in Germany is steadily increasing again. This phenomenon is also due to the highly contagious Delta variant of the coronavirus *. But Delta isn’t the only virus mutant that appears more dangerous than the original variation.
The World Health Organization (WHO) is now observing a large number of virus variations in different parts of the world. For example, Delta, Epsilon and Iota are used in the USA, while Gamma and Lambda are used in South America. The latter mutation is currently causing a stir. Because lambda has also already been detected in Europe *. But how dangerous is Lambda really? A Cambridge physicist has now joined the debate.
Corona pandemic: what danger does the lambda variant pose?
So far, the WHO has only classified the lambda mutant as a “variant of interest”. In comparison, alpha, beta, and delta are considered “worrying”. Experts from Japan recently demanded in a previously published study that has not yet been checked by independent experts, that Lambda should also be added to the list of more dangerous variants.
Accordingly, the danger posed by the novel mutant has so far been underestimated. Although it will probably not prevail against the delta variant, which is dominant in Germany, for example, there is still reason to assume that lambda weakens the immune protection of people who have already been vaccinated against corona or those who have already been infected with another virus variant.
Corona: Study suggests a higher risk of infection with lambda variants – expert disagrees
The laboratory tests should show a possible antibody resistance of the lambda variant of the coronavirus. Accordingly, three mutations in the spike protein of the virus are responsible for the fact that lambda viruses can break through the vaccine protection that has been built up by the corona vaccine *. Now, however, another expert has joined the controversy over the lambda variant: Cornelius Römer, physicist and data scientist at Cambridge University in the UK.
“Please all take a deep breath. From what I can see, this is a non-story due to a very bad press release from @Reuters, ”tweeted the expert, criticizing a message from the international news agency Reuters based in London. In this context, Römer added statistics and classified that the lambda mutant had been known for as long as Delta and had not yet established itself in any country outside of South America. “Gamma and Delta were always transferable. This is the point where you should stop worrying, ”writes the scientist.
Higher risk of infection with the lambda variant of the coronavirus? Expert: “There is no comparison”
In addition, Cornelius Römer criticizes the title “Lambda shows higher infectivity” of the corona study from Japan. “Obviously the comparison is missing: more infectious than what?”, Said Römer via Twitter. The answer becomes clear to him in the discussion of the study, from which it emerges that the wild type of the coronavirus was used for comparison. “Completely obvious and shows how bad and clickbaity the article is,” says the Cambridge physicist. “The results are clear: Lambda is more infectious than the old D614G variant, BUT not more infectious than Delta, and actually less. This means that the study itself should actually be read as an additional all-clear that lambda is no more dangerous than Delta, ”says Cornelius Schäfer, classifying the results of the study.
The expert’s verdict on the preliminary publication of the study, which reported the higher risk of infection – also for vaccinated and convalescent people – from the lambda variant of the coronavirus, is devastating: “The only reason why we are now hearing about this study it seems that the title tricked a few journalists into reading only the headline and not all of the text. And have not yet asked any independent experts, ”explains Cornelius Römer on Twitter. (yw)
