Alpha, Delta, Gamma, Beta and now Lambda.
The COVID-19 variant first identified in Peru has led to eleven cases in Canada, but so far none in the Thunder Bay District Health Unit.
Medical Officer of Health Dr. Janet DeMille says information on the variant is scarce, although Health Canada does not currently list Lambda as a variant of interest or concern.
The dominant variant in Canada remains Delta with 4,654 publicly reported cases.
Dr. DeMille also explains the rvalue in a COVID-19 variant.
“The rvalue for the Delta variant is around one, which means one infected person passes it on to one other person,” noted DeMille. “If the number is two, one person would spread the virus to two others and they in turn could spread it to two others, which is how you get exponential spread.”
The World Health Organization has deemed the Lambda mutation as a variant of interest.
