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Helse Bergen has detected a case of the Brazilian virus variant in corona positive samples analyzed during Thursday. The case of infection originates from the municipality of Årdal in western Norway.
– This is actually a confirmation of something we suspected from the beginning. The starting point here is a person who tested positive at the border and then went straight to quarantine, says municipal physician Frode Myklebust.
The municipality of Årdal has just over 5,100 inhabitants and is located in Sogn.
Local infection control doctor Bjarte Hove says the person traveled from Brazil and tested positive for Gardermoen. The person in question was not going to work in Årdal, he says.
LOOKING FOR MUTATIONS: In the Haukeland Hospital laboratory, they test corona positive samples every day to find mutations.
Photo: Mette Anthun / NRK
Be in control of the situation
The municipality was quickly notified of a positive test, and close contacts were identified and quarantined.
– These have also been tested and eventually two tested positive. None of them have been in close contact with anyone after the last negative test. Therefore, no more cases of infection are expected as a result of this, he says.
The municipality assumes that the two close contacts are also infected with the Brazilian variant.
– We don’t know much about how the virus behaves. What is being said is that it can be a bit more dangerous and easier to infect than the other varieties, he says, emphasizing that the municipality still has good control.
– There are no suspicions or close contacts identified beyond those now in quarantine or isolation, he says.
– First time tested in Norway
– Is this the first time that the Brazilian virus variant has been detected in Norway?
– This is the first time we know. The first time it’s been tested, that’s right, says deputy health director Espen Rostrup Nakstad.
Nakstad adds that there are changes in the spike protein, somewhat in the same way as the English and South African variants, which make the variant of the virus more contagious.
– What we know about this virus is that it is much more contagious than the original, says Nakstad.
– The vaccines we have in Norway now, at least those from AstraZeneca and Pzifer, work on that virus, say the manufacturers. There is uncertainty about whether this virus can make you sick if you have been exposed to the coronavirus before. There is some controversy about it.
Nakstad adds that if the virus variant spreads, there will be an additional problem in addition to the English variant that has spread in Norway.
Health Deputy Director Espen Rostrup Nakstad explains that the Brazilian mutation is more contagious.
It shouldn’t make people sicker
Department Head Elling Ulvestad at Haukeland Hospital’s Department of Microbiology says this is the first time the lab has discovered the variant.
He says that relatively little is known about the Brazilian variant in Norwegian society and that the two societies cannot be compared, as the living conditions are completely different.
– What we know is that it is considered a variant that we must know. It is believed to be more contagious, as the English and South African mutant are contagious. The Brazilian variety is not considered more pathogenic.
LABORATORY MANAGER: Elling Ulvestad heads the Microbiology Department at Haukeland Hospital. This is where mutations are detected.
Photograph: Synne Lykkebø Hafsaas / NRK
Since before, both the English and South African variants have been tested in the Helse Bergen area. On Friday, the health authority identified 53 new cases of the English mutation and one new case of the South African variant.
In the Bergen laboratory, corona samples from all over western Norway and parts of Rogaland are analyzed.
In February, a multivariate coronavirus was detected in Trondheim. The person who tested positive for the crown had elements of the English, South African, and Brazilian variants.
