New COVID variant detected in Norway

A new variant of COVID has been detected in Norway, Norwegian national broadcaster NRK reports referring to the country’s health authority.

The variant has similarities to existing, more infectious variants, Report informs citing The Local.

The new variant, B1525, has similarities to both the B117 variant, first detected in the UK, and variant B1351, first detected in South Africa.

Around ten cases of the B1525 variant have been found in Norway in the last day, according to the report. The variant has also been found in Denmark, the UK, and the US.

"We don’t yet know whether it is more infectious, but it could be. There are changes to the part of the virus which may affect infectiousness," Line Vold, head of department at the Norwegian Institute of Public Health (NIPH), told NRK.

Norway, like Denmark, the UK, and Iceland, analyses a large proportion of positive COVID swabs to test for new variants.

Both B117 and B1351 variants have been shown to be significantly more infectious than previous forms of COVID. The former now comprises around one in seven new infections in Oslo, with up to 700 cases so far identified.

A total of 42 cases of the B1351 variant have also been detected.