The Covid-19 virus is mutating and various variants are appearing around the world. Although the first time it appeared was in August 2020, now is when it seems to spread. We are talking about the new Lambda variant , which is originally from Peru.
The WHO has classified it within the dangerous variants of coronavirus. In Peru, in fact, currently, infections and deaths from the Delta and also from Lambda have increased.
Immunologist Adelaida Sarukhan from the Barcelona Institute for Global Health advances that this strain could increase its transmissibility or its ability to evade the immune response, but it is not yet known because there is little evidence so far.
Already present in various countries
The Andean strain is already in 25 countries around the world, especially in South America, but it has also reached Europe. Certain media echo that in Spain there are already 44 cases.
There are majority cases in the US, Peru, Germany, Argentina and Mexico.
At least 80 suspected cases of this variant in Cantabria
According to the Nius newspaper, the Lambda variant could be the cause of at least 80 suspected cases of coup in Cantabria. At the moment it is being studied but they have already found the confirmation of three cases by sequencing.
The origin and epidemiological link in the appearance of this variant in this area of Spain is not known now.
Of interest to WHO
As we have specified, the WHO names it as a variant “of interest” but they say that it is “not worrisome”. What is known is that it is transmitted more easily than the Alpha variant (British) and that it affects mainly young people.
The different variants
During this year and a half that we have been in a pandemic, there are already several strains in which the initial virus has evolved. From the first, the Alpha, or British, has come out, which is the majority in our country, although many experts predict that soon it will be the Delta (India).
Then South Africa (Beta), Brazil (Gamma) or even the United States (Epsilon and Iota) came out in parallel, among others.
One that is causing the most damage in Europe is the Delta variant, which in Spain could already be dominant as of July 15 and which has little effectiveness and protection with a single dose of the vaccine. But it reaches 80% protection with both doses, especially with the Pfizer vaccine.
