Indian government confirmed on Friday that no case of the Lambda variant of SARS-CoV-2 has been found in India so far.

Lav Agarwal, the joint secretary in the health ministry, said that Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomics Consortium (INSACOG) is closely monitoring the variant.

Lambda was the seventh variant of interest identified by the WHO (World Health Organisation) on June 14 and it has been detected in 25 countries,” he said, PTI reported. 

“In our country, no cases have been reported and INSACOG is monitoring it and we are watchful. In Peru, 80% infections were from this variant. It has also been found in South American countries and also in the UK and European countries, and any public health impact will be monitored,” Agarwal said.

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Lambda COVID-19 variant was first reported in Peru in December 2020 and has seven significant mutations. 

NITI Aayog Member (Health) Dr V K Paul said the Lambda variant is a variant of interest.

“As far as we know it has not entered our country, we have not detected this variant in our country. Our surveillance system INSACOG is very effective and it will detect it if it happens to enter our country because when you do sequencing, all this will be picked up. So we should watch for that,” he said.

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If a strain is a variant of interest, it means that its public health significance is being watched but it has not been proven for excessive transmissibility. 

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“We should be watchful for these variants because the virus is under pressure and when it goes under pressure then it tends to pick up characteristics that tend to help it in survival but as of now we should be watching such variants for their presence in our country but as of now we have no evidence that this has been detected in any part of our country,” Paul added.