A Texas hospital reported its first case of the Lambda COVID-19 variant as cases rise across the state, ABC News writes.
The big picture: The Lambda variant was first detected in Peru last August. From this April through June, the variant made up 81% of COVID-19 cases in Peru, according to the World Health Organization.
WHO categorizes it as a “variant of interest.” It has been detected in 29 countries.
Driving the news: Houston Methodist Hospital reported its first case of the Lambda COVID-19 variant on Monday.
The hospital had a little more than 100 COVID-19 patients across the eight hospitals in its network last week, but that number rose to 185 as of Monday. The majority of the infections are in those who remain unvaccinated.
85% have been diagnosed with the Delta variant, per ABC News, which is the top concern across the U.S. as it accounts for 83% of nationwide cases.
What they’re saying: “I don’t think there’s sufficient evidence at this point that we should be more concerned about lambda than delta, I still think delta is the primary concern for us,” Wesley Long, medical director of Diagnostic Microbiology at Houston Methodist, said, per ABC.
“There’s a lot more evidence that we have that delta is much more contagious, the viral loads are much higher,” he added.