A NEW variant of the Covid-19 virus known as Lambda, which was first detected in Peru some eight months ago, is now circulating in South Africa.
This was confirmed by Professor Barry Schoub during an interview on Tuesday on the POWER FM Breakfast show. Schoub urged people to remain calm while the country's scientists gathered more data on the variant and whether or not vaccines were effective against it.
What is the Lambda variant and how is it different from other variants?
While the Delta variant continues to wreak havoc in SA and globally, a major concern is the Lambda variant, which carries mutations that could potentially make it more resistant to neutralising antibodies.
The World Health Organization (WHO) says the Lambda Covid-19 variant accounts for around 81% of the cases reported since April in Peru and has since been added to the WHO's list of variants of interest.
However, the global health body believes such strains are less of a threat than its four “variants of concern” — Alpha, Beta, Gamma and Delta originally detected in the UK, South Africa, Brazil and India respectively — but says they need to be monitored closely.
Here's what we know about the Lambda variant:
What makes it different from other variants?
Are vaccines effective against the Lambda variant?
What are the symptoms of the Lambda variant?
There’s limited information on the variant but the UK's National Health Service (NHS) laid down a list of symptoms for people to watch out for:
WHO variants of concern:
And the seven variants of interest:
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