Deadlier than Delta: Lambda strain detected in over 30 countries, says Health Ministry

FILE PHOTO: The ultrastructural morphology exhibited by the 2019 Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV), which was identified as the cause of an outbreak of respiratory illness first detected in Wuhan, China, is seen in an illustration released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. January 29, 2020. Alissa Eckert, MS; Dan Higgins, MAM/CDC/Handout via REUTERS

PETALING JAYA: A new Covid-19 strain that is much more dangerous than the Delta variant has been detected in more than 30 countries in the past four weeks, says the Health Ministry.

“The Lambda strain was reported to have originated from Peru, the country with the highest mortality rate in the world,” it said in a tweet on Monday (July 5).

The Health Ministry also linked to report by Australian news portal news.com.au saying the Lambda strain had been detected in the United Kingdom.

The portal reported that six cases of the Lambda strain have been detected in the UK to date.

It noted that researchers are worried that this variant may be “more infectious than the Delta variant”.