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The municipal chief doctor, Tove Røsstad, came out early last week and warned that Trondheim could have a more contagious virus in circulation. On Friday, therefore, samples of the virus were sent from St. Olav’s Hospital for analysis at the National Institute of Public Health.
– In the first sequencing of the samples, the analysis has shown that the variant of the virus that can be linked to this outbreak is a variant that they were not aware of before, Røsstad tells Dagbladet.
Think that more infectious viruses circulate
More contagious
Over the weekend, six other people who may be related to the ongoing outbreak have been diagnosed with the infection. As of Monday, the outbreak numbers about 35 people and has resulted in several hundred people being quarantined. The municipal chief expects the outbreak to increase, as people in quarantine are tested.
Røsstad emphasizes that the new variant may have been in circulation in Norway before, but has not been discovered.
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– But he’s a new guy that FHI doesn’t have on file. We experience that this virus behaves differently, and it is quite possible that nothing has been seen in Trondheim before, says Røsstad.
Grew up fast
The municipality became suspicious last week, after an outbreak related to, among other things, a nightclub, a workplace and the city’s student environment rapidly grew in size.
– In relation to the outbreak here, we saw pretty quickly that it doesn’t have to be as close contact as what we’ve seen before, Røsstad told Dagbladet last week.
Events since then have only strengthened the municipal chief’s suspicions.
– The virus seems more contagious, but we have not seen it cause a more serious illness. It must also be said that it is mainly people in their 20s who have been infected, but we also have some people in their 50s. Everyone has had relatively mild symptoms at the time the diagnosis was made, says Røsstad.
Last week, FHI said they had found a mutated version of the coronavirus that had not been seen before in Norway. The discovery was made in connection with the outbreak in the much-discussed “infection bus”, where several retirees on tour in Norway were infected. The outbreak again led passengers to spread the infection to the places they visited.
Røsstad tells Dagbladet that no connection has been proven between the variant found in Trondheim and the variant found among passengers on the retirement bus.
Dagbladet has been in contact with FHI regarding the analyzes, but has not yet received a response.
