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NEW STRATEGY: FHI will now slow the spread of the British virus variant. Photo: Terje Pedersen
We should expect more outbreaks of the British virus variant that cannot be attributed to overseas travel, believes FHI department director Line Vold.
The first cases of the British variant, which has no direct link to travel, were detected at Nordre Follo just over a week ago.
At the time, the National Institute of Public Health had an ambition to remove the most contagious virus variants from Norway.
On Saturday night, Halden Township was informed of the same: the British virus variant was detected in positive samples from a major outbreak in the hockey community.
FHI does not believe that it is now possible to eliminate the British variant of Norway.
– Now we hope to discover more cases that have not known the route of infection. We no longer believe that we can remove the virus variant, but now we aim to slow down the spread and new introductions, says FHI Line Vold’s department director.
It emphasizes that not all cases of infection are detected, but that FHI analyzes virus outbreaks and samples that the laboratories select from all the positive samples they analyze.
There are four main groups of samples that are tested for new varieties, according to Vold:
- Samples analyzed for follow-up
- Sprout samples tested
- Analyzed samples of import cases
- Samples tested for vaccine failure or special clinical course
Can be hidden spread
It is currently too early to estimate what proportion of the positive samples in Norway today is the British variant, or an R number for the British variant in Norway.
Since FHI now prioritizes virus samples from Oslo and Nordre Follo, the number of cases tested with the British variant may give a picture that is not representative of the infection situation across the country.
– When do you think the British variant will dominate in Norway?
– It really depends on how you behave in Norway, with the Norwegian regime and the level of measures, how close contact we have, but we think it will happen during the spring. There are many factors that affect it, says Vold.
In countries where the variant of the virus has taken hold, it has been difficult to stop the virus. In both the Netherlands and Denmark, health authorities estimate that the variant will dominate in the coming weeks.
– Because we have dark numbers, there may also be a hidden spread of the infection here, says Vold.
FHI is now working to ensure the quality of new PCR tests, which can detect mutated virus variants.
– It is a job to evaluate which ones are more appropriate to use in Norway. If it should only test the British, or for example the South Africans or also the Brazilians, says Vold.
Even with increased sequencing capabilities and new PCR tests, the TISK strategy remains the most important in the fight against mutation viruses, according to Vold.
– The outbreak in Nordre Follo and the clusters in other municipalities underscore the good work being done in municipalities with testing, infection monitoring, quarantine and isolation, he says.
