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NEW MUTATION: The new variant of the virus in the UK is said to increase infectivity and has already been detected in several other parts of the world. Photo: Line Møller
In the last 24 hours, three new cases of the British variant of the mutated virus have been discovered in Norway.
This is in addition to the two cases that were detected in Norway on Sunday, one in Oslo and one in Kinn.
The three new cases that were discovered Tuesday correspond to a person in Viken county, one in Ullensvang municipality in western Norway and one in Agder county, writes FHI on its website.
All three people briefed on Tuesday arrived in Norway from the UK just before Christmas. NIPH has also stated that the first two people arrived in Norway from the UK in December.
– The people in question will now be quarantined and will be followed by the municipality in which they are. We help and make sure they are followed up according to current guidelines, says Department Director Line Vold at FHI.
Ullensvang Mayor Roar Aga Haug told VG early Tuesday that the municipality is in good control:
– We have a good control of the transmission routes, the infected person is isolated and a close contact is in quarantine.
Two weeks ago, the discovery of a new variant of the virus in the United Kingdom caused the capital, London, to close. On December 21, the Norwegian government also decided to temporarily suspend all entries into the country.
Several countries have introduced entry bans or other travel restrictions from the UK until a general description of the situation is available, including Spain, Portugal, Germany, France, Denmark and Norway.
You can increase the “R number”
Laboratory tests have indicated that the new mutation in the UK makes the coronavirus 56 per cent more contagious.
FHI is concerned about this virus because this type can increase the reproduction rate by 0.4. Norway is now at 0.8 and therefore this variant will increase the number to 1.2. This is important because a number greater than 1 means that each person infects more than another. Therefore, the infection can increase exponentially.
– More infectious variants will eventually dominate the epidemic as a result of natural selection. It may appear that the English variant is multiplying faster and therefore has that selection advantage and is becoming dominant in some parts of England, FHI wrote in a risk assessment on Monday.
They also allow that this is due to the fact that this variant happened to be in an environment with a lot of spread, as in London, and that this way it became dominant without being better adapted.
It is not unknown that viruses mutate and change rapidly. However, what is new about the new British variant is that 17 of the changes in the protein on the surface where the virus binds to the human body must have occurred at the same time, which according to the American epidemiologist Eric Feigl-Ding, not seen before.
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