Bangladesh has identified the existence of the “Lambda” variant, a new Covid-19 strain which the World Health Organisation has termed as “variant of interest,” first identified in Peru.

The new variant was identified from a sample collected in March during a genome sequencing by the Bangladesh Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (BCSIR) and Jahangirnagar University, according to media reports.

According to the genome sequencing report published in Germany’s Global Initiative on Sharing All Influenza Data (GISAID), the variant has been found in the sample of a 49-year-old woman in Dhaka.

First identified in August last year, the Lamda variant is believed to have originated in South America and accounts for nearly 81% of the cases reported in Peru.

It has spread to as many as 29 countries and its elevated presence has led to the WHO terming it as a “variant of interest.”