[ad_1]
At the end of September, a bus with Norwegian pensioners became the center for the spread of the coronavirus in southern Norway. Of the 40 people riding the bus, 38 were infected with the virus and the bus is connected to a total of about 100 cases, according to Dagbladet.
Now Norway’s Health Minister Bent Høie says the passengers were infected with a new variant of the coronavirus.
– The virus belongs to a genetic subgroup and has unique mutations that have not been seen before in Norway. One of these mutations could possibly increase the virus’s ability to infect cells and thus make the virus somewhat more contagious, Høie says.
Coronavirus mutation in Norway
The same virus mutation has been discovered in a major outbreak in Australia and similar viruses have been seen in the UK and other European countries, according to Dagbladet.
“Slightly different variants are spread in different parts of the world and countries, but so far no mutations have been discovered that are supposed to affect the infectivity of the virus or disease-causing properties to any significant degree,” said Deputy Director of Health Espen Nakstad, to Dagbladet.
The passengers on the bus were between 67 and 84 years old and five of them needed to be hospitalized. But now everyone should be healthy.
