new delhi a new strain of covid19 called lambda c37 has been detected in the united kingdom and was identified as a variant of interest by the world health organisation on june 14 even as the experts study this new lineage of sarscov2 scientists have said that this variant could have improved transmissibilitylambda will be closely monitored in terms of how fast it can spread before being added to the group of variables of concern which includes the b117 alpha b1351 beta p1 gamma b142729 epsilonhere is what you need to know about lambdathe lambda variant c37 of the sarscov2 virus originated in peruthe c37 variant lies within the b111 lineageaccording to the who it is related to 81 per cent of the cases detected since april in perulambda was first detected in august 2020according to gisaid it has been detected in 29 countries but mainly in south americathe countries where it has a significant presence are peru chile argentina and ecuadorlambda in peruthe lambda variant has multiple mutations in the spike protein that could have an impact on its transmissibility but more studies are needed to fully understand the mutations said whochile has not managed to lower its contagion cases and hospitals are still at maximum capacity at the end of may peru became the nation with the highest mortality rate in the world the situation is worrying because the coronavirus caused a lot of damage to south america and they have not managed to recoverlambda in the ukthe public health england phe has also reported a new strain lambda it has been categorised as a variant under investigation with six cases detected between february 23 and june 7 of these five had been linked to overseas travelthe phe has asserted that two doses of vaccine are still effective at providing protection against the risk of hospitalisation it added that there is currently no evidence that the new variant causes more severe disease or renders vaccines less effective the report saidlambda in indiawhile b16173 and b11318 are already present in india lambda is yet to make its way into the country though it is spreading fast across the world experts fear that the opening of international air travel may bring a cocktail of new variants including lambda into india they also called for more genomic surveillance to identify and find solutions to emerging variantswith inputs from agencies