ARCHIVED - New Lambda variant of Covid starts to spread in Spain

Uncertainty over resistance to vaccines of the highly contagious South American strain

While the Delta variant of coronavirus continues to contribute to the alarming recent increase in Covid case numbers in Spain, experts are becoming increasingly concerned over the arrival of another strain of the virus, the Lambda variant (C.37), which originated in South America.

Only a fortnight since it was first included in the WHO list of coronavirus variants the “Andean strain” is now present in 31 countries, and is responsible for an estimated 80 per cent of all cases in Peru, 37 per cent in Argentina and 32 per cent in Chile. Given the strong historical and cultural ties between South America and Spain, and the number of people travelling to this country to visit relatives living here, it is not surprising that the strain is also present in Spain.

At present the Lambda variant accounts for under 5 per cent of cases in Spain, but some analysts place the country seventh on the list of States with most confirmed cases.

One of the characteristics of the Lambda strain is that it presents changes in the Protein S structure, which is associated with the efficiency of the vaccines being used, while it is also highly transmissible. It is not yet known to what extent vaccine efficiency is affected, but it is suspected that the Lambda variant makes re-infection more likely than the Delta, Gamma and Beta variants.

In Spain the variant is related to an outbreak of coronavirus in the northern coastal region of Cantabria, which has produced at least 80 known cases, and the regional Public Health minister Reinhard Wallmann describes the situation as “alarming”.

Other regions which have strong links to south-America nationals due to their presence within the agricultural sector have also reported detection of the variant.