The Department of Health (DOH) on Sunday confirmed the first case of COVID-19 Lambda variant in the country.

In a statement, DOH said the case is a 35-year old woman who was asymptomatic and tagged as recovered after undergoing a 10-day isolation period.

The health department is finding out if she is a local or returning overseas Filipino (ROF) case.

DOH said the Lambda variant was first identified in Peru last August 2020 and was classified as a variant of interest by the World Health Organization (WHO) this June.

"This VOI has the potential to affect the transmissibility of Sars-CoV-2 and is currently being monitored for its possible clinical significance," it said.

Meanwhile, an additional 182 new cases of Delta case was recorded, 41 Alpha cases, 66 Beta cases, and 40 additional P.3 variant.

There are now 807 Delta cases, 2, 232 Alpha cases, and 2, 483 Beta cases in the country.

DOH said regardless of the presence of any variant of concern, the public should continue to follow the minimum public health standards, strengthened PDITR (prevention, detection, isolation, trace and reintegration) and vaccination strategies remain effective.

"Active case finding, aggressive contact tracing, and immediate isolation/ quarantine can also lower the transmission of the COVID-19 and its variants," it said. Ella Dionisio/DMS