Several municipalities suspect mutant infection – VG

This weekend, very strict and intrusive measures were introduced in several municipalities in eastern Norway in an attempt to slow the spread of the British mutation. Earlier Tuesday, it was announced that a mutated virus had been detected in seven out of ten samples that FHI has analyzed from Smestadhjemmet in Oslo.

Even in municipalities that did not receive measures adopted by the government, there is suspicion and concern that the mutation has reached the population.

At Sigdal, they suspect that the British mutation may have been in circulation, but FHI has yet to confirm this.

– This outbreak spread very quickly to close contacts, much faster than before, says Mayor Anne Kristine Norman (Sp).

Sigdal did not have his first case of infection until November of last year. Since then, they have had a few cases here and there. That changed in January.

They have had a sharp increase in the number of infection cases since week 2, but all cases can be traced back to the same outbreak. In recent days the number of cases has also decreased, and all have been close contacts of already known cases.

– I would say we have control over the outbreak, but we are not infection free yet. The outbreak doesn’t end until we are completely infection-free, Norman says.

In Modum Township, infection monitoring has shown that a corona-infected resident is in close contact with a person who has been diagnosed with the British mutant. Therefore, the municipality assumes that the person in question is also infected by the mutant. The close contact is in another municipality, without specifying which one.

Modum asks everyone who has been in contact with someone from Nordre Follo in the last week to get tested, whether they have symptoms or not.

Join inside a testing lab where they look for mutations:

The Øvre Eiker municipality suspects that a resident is infected with the British variant of the virus through Nordre Follo.

FHI has informed the municipality of three previous cases of infection that are probably infected by the British variant. In a press release, the Øvre Eiker municipality states that one of them is probably infected by a close contact living in Nordre Follo.

All three have been quarantined since they underwent tests and are now in isolation. None of them or their close contacts are connected with kindergartens, schools or health institutions in Øvre Eiker, according to Bygdeposten.

Very worried

He wants to commend the citizens who make sure they have new test records every day, but notes that it is still very important that you continue to test yourself at the slightest suspicion.

– It is extremely important, so that you do not spread the infection without being aware of it. I am very happy about that, we have the capacity and we are also ready to vaccinate the entire population en masse. It shouldn’t depend on us, we are ready to receive vaccines, but we lack the vaccines themselves, says Kaabbel.

Våler Municipality in Viken is on the list of municipalities to which strict measures have been introduced. Rapporteur Reidar Kaabbel is happy about that.

– There is a reason why we are among the ten.

He says they have three people who they suspect may be infected with the mutated variant. The samples have been delivered to FHI and a response is expected next week.

– We have an ascending infection curve, and the difference now is that we are beginning to have a series of unknown infection routes, it is going faster and is spreading throughout the municipality, says Kaabbel.

– Before we had control of transmission routes, but now it is more difficult. There is class after class and kindergarten after kindergarten in quarantine. This is why staying home is incredibly important, says the mayor.