By: Spokesman Newsroom
BASSETERRE, St. Kitts (Thursday 1st July 2021) — The type of COVID-19 variant circulating in St. Kitts and Nevis has been identified as the Lambda variant, which is prevalent in South American countries and is classified as a variant of interest by the World Health Organization (WHO). The disclosure was made by Chief Medical Officer Dr. Hazel Laws at the NEOC COVID-19 Daily Briefing on Saturday 26th June 2021, following results returned from the Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA) genomic sequencing exercise for which samples were sent approximately 3–4 weeks earlier.
Dr. Laws stated: “The SARS-2 variant belongs to the lineage B.1.1.1 or C.37. The WHO’s label for this variant is the Lambda variant. It was first identified in Peru in August of last year, and to date it has been identified in over 29 countries. It is quite prevalent in South American countries including Argentina.” Local health officials noted that the Lambda variant is more transmissible. The variant’s identification helps health authorities understand the transmission dynamics of the current outbreak wave, which began with Case #46 on 19th May 2021 and by the week of 25th June had reached over 300 active cases in the Federation.