Lambda, another COVID-19 variant has an unusual set of mutations and this is worrying World Health Officials and medics across the globe.

The Lambda was first discovered in Peru last year and has since then has spread to 27 countries, including the UK in June.

The new coronavirus variant has infected thousands in South America and has now been detected in 29 nations. Seven of these nations are in Latin America.

The WHO has classified the virus as a “variant of interest” because it accounts for 82% of new infections in South America.

Experts discovered it in December last year in Peru when it accounted for just one in every 200 samples. But it has since then grown into a massive thread with a higher rate of transmission.

But experts are still divided about whether it is more aggressive than other variants. The WHO in June named Lambda as the seventh “variant of interest”.

“So far we have seen no indication that the lambda variant is more aggressive,” the WHO virologist Jairo Mendez-Rico says. “It is possible that it may exhibit higher infection rates, but we don’t yet have enough reliable data to compare it to gamma or delta.”

New Covid variant Lambda ripping through South America found in UK

The NEW variant has ripped through South America and Peru has suffered greatly with a huge death toll from Covid.

Peru is the country with the world’s highest death rate per capita, according to Johns Hopkins University data.

The Lambda variant has been circulating there since August.