KUALA LUMPUR: A new strain of Covid-19 has been detected in more than 30 countries in the past four weeks, the Health Ministry highlighted in a tweet today.
"The Lambda strain was reported to have originated in Peru, the country with the highest mortality rate in the world," it said.
The tweet linked a report which said the strain is believed to be more transmissible than Delta, previously believed to be the most infectious strain of Covid-19.
The report said the strain is baffling scientists and has been linked to 81 per cent of Peru's cases since April.
Meanwhile, other news reports have quoted experts as saying studies show Lambda is more transmissible and deadlier than any of the previous variants.
Nick Cater of the Menzies Research Centre was quoted as saying the Delta variant had a 38 per cent mortality rate but Lambda was even more concerning as it seems to be more infectious.
He also said the variant showed a resistance to antibodies created by the CoronaVac vaccine.
Pablo Tsukayama, a molecular microbiologist at the Cayetano Heredia University in Lima, agreed that the Lambda variant spreads faster than any other variant before it.
"We had 200 Lambda infections in December. By the end of March, it made up half of all samples taken in Lima. Now three months later, we are looking at more than 80 per cent of all infections nationwide," he was quoted as saying.