Eleven cases of the two newest Covid-19 variants of interest have been identified on the island of Ireland.
While the dominant Delta variant continues to account for more than 90 per cent of sequenced cases on both sides of the Border, six cases of the Mu variant and five of the Lambda variant have been identified, according to The Irish Times.
Last month, the World Health Organisation added Mu, or B.1.621, to its list of “variants of interest” because of preliminary evidence it can evade antibodies.
The variant was first identified in Colombia in January and spread rapidly there.
But while Mu has a number of mutations that suggest it could evade the protection provided by vaccines, to date there is little evidence it actually can.
And while at one point it accounted for 40 per cent of sequenced cases in Colombia, no Mu cases have been detected there in the past month. It has, however, spread to 40 other countries.
Four Mu cases have been sequenced in the Republic and two in Northern Ireland, according to Gisaid, an international consortium for tracking variants.
Lambda variant
Peru is the country of origin of another variant, Lambda, which is related to the Alpha variant that was dominant here at the start of this year.
As with the other suspect variants, Lambda (also known as C.37) carries a number of mutations that could be problematic, including increased transmissibility and increased resistance to neutralising antibodies.
While there is some evidence Lambda can lead to more severe infection, it doesn’t seem to possess a transmission advantage over the prevailing Delta strain.
It was, however, classified as a variant of interest by the World Health Organisation last June.
Four cases of Lambda have been sequenced in the Republic and one in the North.
None of the newer variants shows signs so far of being “fitter” than the Delta variant, which is highly transmissible. And while breakthrough infections are occurring, vaccines are highly protective against serious illness caused by all known variants.
